Team Cybele: The Hare and the Snake

[Princess Tracy]

"Alice-sensei, I'm going out," Amon waves as she rides the elevator up after completing her training. Before the elevator door closes though, she can't help it. "Have you been to my hideout lately, Alice? I could've sworn I saw a pretty blonde girl around there, but you're the only one matching that description that knows where to find it, as far as I know..." She smiles anyway. Nah, couldn't be.

"Well, ah, congratulations on the tea! Here's hoping my next stay is a bit more relaxed."

---

Looking quite cross to find the estate still abandoned, Amon hops the fence anyway, getting frankly comically existential at this point ("were my parents really ever there to begin with?") and breaks in as she always does. For the nicest house in Soragakure, picking the lock was insultingly easy. How did the Yamanas ever feel secure around here when a genin could gain access at her luxury? Ninja protection or no...

She quickly scans the house for any sign it has been visited by anyone other than her in the last week. [I take 10 for 15 on search and investigate] Remembering the note she left to Aiko yesterday, she goes to Aiko's room to see if it is where she left it.

Her quick scan of the house complete, if Amon finds no sign of anyone, she gives up reaching for the telephone. It's not like the would KNOW it was Amon calling them, right? She phones them at the address their note said they would be at. If anyone picks up, she lets them speak first as she tries to decide how to approach the conversation. One of her prominent options is to pretend to be with the ninja police so they HAVE to talk to her about the trouble Amon's been getting into. Would she fool them? they were her parents, but it WAS over the phone. Maybe I should just come clean and ask for a hug. Well, let's at least see who picks up first.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke bows respectfully to his grandfather as a morning greeting. "Good morning, grandfather. I hope you have rested well." Staring at the open doors, Yousuke breaths in deeply and releases his breath in heavy shudders. This was it. The day he had spent the better portion of his youth training for. His life would irrevocably change depending on the outcome of this duel, for better or for worse. Generations of Konpaku swordsmen before him had maintained the Path of the Princess in spite of her death and now it was up to him to do the same. Returning his grandfather's warm affectations with one of his own, Yousuke asks, "Does the teacher have any words he would like to impart to his student?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

The house is exactly as Amon had left it. Her attempts to call her parents result in the phone ringing incessantly but to no avail. No one answers the phone, no matter how many times Amon calls.

Yousuke

"Good morning, Yousuke. I did not sleep well, but I likely slept more easily than you." When asked for any advice, Youki looks the young boy in the eye and speaks in a somber tone. "My only advice is this: Do not hold back. The Roukanken will sense your hesitation, and even in its broken state there is next to nothing it cannot cut. If you go into this battle with anything less than total conviction, then your mother will not hesitate to cut you down."

[Princess Tracy]

Slamming down the receiver, Amon decides she doesn't have time to be playing her parent's mind games right now. She had a full schedule even now, and a swordsman that might need her in the morning, she had enough on her plate. Though she spared a thought for a moment at what sort of state she'd have been in if Yousuke or Houshi had died and she didn't even have Aiko to come home to.

Grabbing some food, Amon spends some time going over some medical practices at home before turning up early to meet Kaede at her office.

She initially makes to wave to him before seeing he hardly seemed pleased. It was an old concrete office space she'd fashioned into a lair, hidden under the tracks of the sky rail itself (meaning she could also occassionally steal access to ingots and furnaces) and the wooden door was marked only by a puppet, a simple marionette she'd carved, she recalled. The whole thing was just a storey off the ground, only accessible by a flight of maintenance stairs. Other than the puppet, which she usually removed when not in business, it was indistinguishable form other similar abandonned maintenance points, so a good hideout

Her eyes widen at Kaede's news and among her panic there's an odd fear of getting caught somehow. But for what? Because whatever it was occurred in her office. Of course, she knew more than that, but... "Kaede..." She looks over to the door, wondering if he'd looked inside yet. She hadn't been in there proper since she rejoined the genin program. "I remembered what happened, a bit, of the night I was knocked out. There were two girls near here, or even in my office - my memory's fuzzy, but they mentioned some suspicious stuff. It could just be my mind filling in the blanks, but I think i heard 'Garou'." A week before we were assigned our mission, no less. There was a fear there that she had more knowledge than was safe to know, so tells him what he needs to know quickly. Looking to the door again, she twitches nervously.

I don't trap the door or anything, so... should you enter first or should I?"

[Bad Situation]

The white haired swordsman stands at ease, staring back at Youki peacefully. "Do not worry, grandfather. I fight not only for your sake but for mother's as well. A Konpaku is at his strongest when he fights to protect the ones he loves. You taught me this, grandfather. So let me tell you now: the love I bear for you and mother is not something so easily cut."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Kaede looks toward Amon with more than a little surprise. "Really? Even Central didn't expect the Garou until they just showed up... Did they say anything else? Anything that would seem inconspicuous or inauspicious? Anything mundane at all?" Kaede waits patiently for a response before expressing himself again.

When she talks about the lack of traps or locks the jounin just shrugs. "I wouldn't want you snooping around my home, so why would I snoop around yours?" He motions for Amon to lead the way, and follows if the genin does so.

Inside, Amon finds her office much as she left it. There's a faint hint of something metallic in the air, and it's not machinery. The smell of old blood drifts through the whole office. Kaede looks to Amon and shoots the girl a disarming smile. "Well, you needed me for something, and I doubt it was something as simple as finding two girls attached to the Garou. So, spill it."

Yousuke

The old man closes his eyes, and for a moment seems on the verge of tears. But he looks away, and speaks to the corner of the room rather than to Yousuke directly. "T-Then you're ready, my grandson. Go forth, but do so with this knowledge... No matter what happens today: I will always love you."

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke quirks his head in confusion and gives his grandfather one last parting word before steeling himself for the dojo, "I believe it goes without saying, that I will always love you as well. So...save your tears for after my victory, grandather. Tears belong on a man's shoulders not his eyes, right?"

[Princess Tracy]

The door is locked, of course, but Amon makes short work of even her own lock - in her cockier moments, she would brag there wasn't a Jounin in Soragakure who made a better locksmith than she. Of course, this being a lock designed to keep out all but herself, Amon has to take a minute or two plucking away at it. In her mind, a key would have been a security leak.

The time spent picking gives her a moment or two to mull over what she could really recall (and what she could tell Kaede). Just as she feels the lock giving way, she answers a little quietly. "They said something about the Red Eyes... and a gift for the Garou. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details - I'm sure whatever genjutsu they used on me must have been intended to nonlethally silence me. Something in the forest seemed to jog my memory though, so..."

As Amon enters, she looks around. It's a bit of a dump, having gotten no business the last few months, instead mostly just being a home whenever she needed to get out of her house. Comic books just out of odd orifices, and the sheets on a single bed she keeps in the back are quite misalligned. A rather finely crafted (she stole this one, actually) mahogany desk sits at the sentre, along with a swivel chair behind it, along with a couple of regular old boring chairs pushes off to the side somewhere. There's a hatch she carved out that leads to a furnace she fixed up after it was abandonned, and all throughout the office, there's endless crafting supplies - tools and material and half finished schematics.

"No, if they were here, something must have been disturbed beyond the smell... no one knows the office like I do, so..." she mutters before Kaede asks for more details.

"Well honestly, the distinct smell of blood is more of a lead than I was expecting. It was a suspicious activity and I didn't think it safe to investigate on my own," She tries to return Kaede's smile as if to say 'yeah, I'm just a fraidy-cat' but he'll probably have the insight to see her other concerns - something she knows all too well.

Amon swivels around the office, resisting the natural urge to sit and take a spin in the chair, lest she destroy some evidence. "One of the girls looked familiar, yet I didn't recognise who she was, so..." The final detail, she dare not say. "Well, I figure if someone goes to that extent to make you forget something, you owe it to yourself to remember our of pure defiance. Unless that investigation is itself a trap..." Even as she says that, she doesn't seem too worried. With Kaede here, they weren't in any real danger, surely.

Amon pauses as she recalls the last words. "Kaede... are there other Uchiha near Soragakure?" Her gaze is locked on him, testing him more intensely than she'd ever been known to test a person.

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

No matter how thoroughly the girl searches she finds nothing out of place, nothing disturbed, and nothing missing or added since the last time she'd been inside. Yet, the smell of blood grows stronger the longer she spends searching the room. It smells like something had been cut to pieces in this room, but whether that thing was human or not was still unknown. Kaede remains near the door, and doesn't move into the room in order to not bother any of Amon's things. And probably because the whole set-up Amon has is extremely dangerous and very unhealthy. When questioned about other Uchiha, the leaf-nin nods. "Of course. Momo lives here too, you know. But aside from the two of us: There aren't any that I know of."

Yousuke

Youki just smiles at his grandson's ridiculousness. The old man stands back and waits for Yousuke to take the plunge and face his mother.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon blinks, not sure why she elected to be so intensive with that question.

"I was thinking of installing a window, you know," she remarks, seeing Kaede stand awkwardly to the side. "Although it seemed like a security risk. I'm sure you can spare yourself a moment of labour and help me find where the hell this smell is coming from. I'm not in the habit of bleeding gallons in my own office. Come on, you can't tell me you haven't, in all your missions, had to rifle through someone's possessions before. If it makes you feel any better, i don't keep a change of clothes in here, so there's no panty drawer you'll accidentally come across."

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Amon concentrates to sense chakra.

Amon baches her foot against teh hardwood floor. "Under the floorboards maybe... would you say that scent is recent? The blood? Why is it getting worse - is that just me? I'm not really renowned for my finely tuned sense of smell"

Amon busies herself looking for a Rubik's Cube, certain she'd seen one in that 'memory' and that of all the supplies she horded, that exact Cube was not one of them.

(If a few minutes of silent searching ensues)

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Finally, Amon just blurts out, "One of the girls said you remembered her."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Amon certainly finds a solved Rubik's Cube hidden away in the corner of the room.

Kaede happily helps search for the source of the smell, but neither sky-nin proves capable enough at smelling to find it. The source eludes them both, and continues to permeate the entirety of the room.

However, when Amon brings up the Rubik's Cube Kaede frowns as he crosses his arms. Amon doesn't detect any chakra from the sky-nin, but that was expected given his reflexive suppression of his own chakra. Regardless of what her extrasensory perception sees, her quite terrestrial eyes note that Kaede is not amused. He frowns deeply at his fellow sky-nin, and seems on the verge of actually being angry for... well, the first time Amon has ever seen at least. "Amon. If you brought me here to search for a toy..."

Finally, Amon's confession stops his ascent into anger and just draws a look of confusion from Kaede. "A girl? The only girls I know enough to recognize would be... Momo, my tea--my ex-teammates, Sune, and Cybele. You said they were familiar, right? Well, you've never met my team or Momo, so logically the girl could only be Sune or Cybele. Those are the only two that meet the given criteria: Familiar to you and someone I would recognize."

[Bad Situation]

With nothing left to say to his grandfather, Yousuke sucks in a deep breath and enters the dojo with a firm expression in his eyes.

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

As soon as the young sky-nin steps into the room he's assaulted by a vicious killing intent. The air's thick with the smell of blood, and the feeling of barely restrained violence flows out from the far end of the room to batter itself against Yousuke's senses. The tatami mats underneath the young boy's feet sink down with each step, and do not rebound like they should. Instead, each mat writhes as if it were alive and each fall of the genin's feet stamps out their life. Every step takes the boy further and further along the bloody mire that is the Path of the Sword, and the Path's vicious nature coils around him like a snake. The vicious monster holds the entire room within its grip. It baths the air in blood, and forms a swirling whirlpool centered around a single figure thirty feet away from the entrance.

The figure, a lithe svelte woman who bears a regal standing, is Yousuke's mother. She sits with her legs crossed beneath her, her eyes closed, and a blade laying across her lap. Yousuke immediately recognizes the golden and beautifully crafted hilt as the hilt of the Roukanken, but the blade is different. Where it was once shattered it has been made whole, but the blade is not a solid piece of thorium as the original Roukanken. Instead, the pieces of the blade float in perfect synchronization in a path resembling the shattered blade's original shape. A faint blue shimmer runs up from the hilt through the pieces, and Yousuke can see something flowing out from Youmu's body maintains the sword's shape. The woman does not open her eyes as Yousuke crosses the threshold, but she does speak.

"My name is Konpaku Youmu, daughter of Konpaku Youki, grand-daughter of Konpaku Youshen. I claim our clan's growth will stagnant on its current path. Is there any present who would refute my claim?"

Amon, Houshi, and Camille

The two sky-nin and their mentored companion arrive at the Konpaku household during the morning of Team Cybele's next mission. They're greeted by Youki at the door, and if questioned about Yousuke then the older gentlemen merely nods. "He has already started the trial. You may watch from the room upstairs, but may not interfere. No matter what, the dojo is sealed to those not of the Konpaku clan." The older gentlemen heads upstairs, and if the group follows then they find themselves standing in a room as large as the dojo with a thick pane of glass in its center. Beneath them stands Konpaku Yousuke, and the boy's mother sits opposite him.

Camille follows the older Konpaku, but says nothing. She watches Yousuke with an impressively impassive gaze.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke approaches slowly but surely, letting the killing intent wash over him as he finds his center. When opposite his mother, Yousuke takes a similar seated position and lays his own blade across his lap, closing his eyes as he does so. The blade gifted to him upon graduation rests comfortably in its sheath as opposed to Youmu's live blade. He had deliberated long into the night for his choice in steel and had eventually settled on the lower quality weapon. Though not as masterfully crafted, the blade held a unique sentimental value unmatched by any of his weapons. Because in the, the choice of steel mattered not. Only a weapon of special significance would be able to hold its own against the Roukanken.

"My name is Konpaku Yousuke, son of Konpaku Youmu, grand-son of Konpaku Youki. This humble Konpaku clansman refutes your claim and desires a trial by steel to determine the strength of your convictions."

[Princess Tracy]

The Previous Night

"..." Amon has a worried look of contemplation. She made sure, at least, to wear some elastic gloves from a med kit when picking up the Cube, in case she erased something.

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Investigate - I take 10, hitting 15, to gather anything of note about the Cube. Hopefully an indicator of how long it has sat there or how often it is used.

Amon hadn't been sensing Kaede for chakra. She'd been looking for a body.

Amon is a bit surprised to see Kaede angry, though is put no more at ease by him coming down from it with his analysis. "Cybele, Sune... no, there's a factor there not understood." Amon nods, avoiding Kaede's gaze as she thinks hard, but not TOO hard. "I'm trying to focus on not using the creativity centre of my brain in case I fill in additional details that don't exist with this scattered memory. But it wasn't the 'familiar' girl that said you remembered her. It was the other girl." Amon looks about ready to hurl as she recites, "The familiar girl was sitting at my desk solving this Cube, I guess to pass the time. Maybe her familiarity is a side effect of the genjutsu. Or perhaps my attention was drawn by the other girl when she dragged someone. A boy, i think. Their gift for teh Garou, out cold. They said..." Her eyes widen. "They said to keep him here until they could use him. Then the other girl turned to leave, said the Uchiha remembered her and... I guess they saw me and knocked me out."

Amon digs out a dagger as she scratches off a small section of her own wall, inspecting the paint and brickwork.

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Repair check to notice anything odd about the architecture, i take 10 for 20.

She looks ill as she recites the whole thing. "I have a theory though... that this scene didn't play out in my office, not really, that's just my mind filling in a familiar setting. Or my own 'default' setting. So, somewhere comfortable. And I would hold to that if not for this slightest niggling doubt the circumstantial evidence of this Cube and this smell brings. Kaede..." Is it possible their prisoner is still here?

Present

When retrieving Camille, Amon says something to her heartfully. "Camille-chan... Yousuke's an idiot, we all know this. He's got more valour than he knows what to do with an dhe can toy with you by accident; and he's endlessly cold to most everyone even when they make the effort. But on our mission, I watched as he so nearly died. And yesterday I saw him show the sorrow of loss. He's young, not much older than yourself, he'll learn, but... I didn't really appreciate him until i almost lost him.... I'm sure even with his foolishness he means more to you than to me; we've both turned to him at our lowest - he at least had the courtesy to catch you. Listen, he's in a fight today. If he loses, he'll be gone, forever from this village, and it's unlikely you'll see him ever again. Please, even if your heart does not yearn to see him now, there would be a great sadness for all of us if there was in the future. Please, don't let the question of what could have been haunt you forever."

Camille gathered, she grudgingly invites Houshi. She didn't know how appropriate it would be, but as a team mate she supposed he was just as entitled to see out Yousuke's fate as Amon herself was.

---

Amon nods to Youki. "Very well, I wouldn't want to throw him off. lead the way. Just... just make sure you let me in when the fight is over, okay? I mean, if Yousuke needs my help I'm at least a little skilled at medicine, so..."

Taking her seat, she indicates Camille and Houshi to do the same, glad that retrieving Houshi didn't make her too late. there's a small trror in her as she fails to grasp anything but the sheer power of Youmu's intent. Could Yousuke really stand a chance? She wished she knew more... That sword down there taht she's holding seemed particularly important. It looked form her positon like it shouldn't be in one piece, yet there it was. Yousuke's using his basic sword too... what kind of fight is this, anyway? She looks to Camille and Houshi for their insight, but immediately returns to watching the match as it starts. "Come on Yousuke..."

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

The killing intent in the room gradually fades away as Youmu seemingly draws it into herself. The woman breathes in slowly as a slowly growing sense of calm overtakes the room. After a few seconds Youmu finally stands up, grasping Roukanken in her right hand as she does so, and opens her eyes to look at Yousuke.

"I accept. This trial of steel will commence until one or both of us has been rendered unconscious. Roukanken will assure that neither of our blows are lethal." In an instant Youmu has flipped her grip around into an offensive one, and Yousuke is presented with Youmu's killing intent. "Let us begin."

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Legend: Light brown - Floor
Dark brown - Walls
Dark Gray - Yousuke
Red - Youmu

Initative check: Youmu - (1d20+3)[22]

[zeone3000]

Houshi stands on the edge of glass pane, looking down rather intently at the mother and son. He felt the tension between, just like the sharpen edge of their blades.

He couldn't guess how skilled Yousuke's mother is and only the first move would give him any insight. He stood there, waiting for it all to begin, "You'd better not lose Yousuke... We've been through too much for it to end now."

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke stands slowly, holding the still sheathed blade as he rises. When his mother begins her signal, his eyes flash open and he makes his move. Seizing the initiative, Yousuke springs forward and rips his katana from its sheath so violently that the lacquered sheath tumbles away uselessly as Yousuke begins his assault.

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Status
Hit Points: 34/34
Chakra Pool: 12/26
Chakra Reserve: 12/12
Armour Class: 22
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (1/5), Spd Rank 2 (1/5), Tiger Grasps Sword, Charge, Iaido

Actions
Full Round Action~! - Charging Iaido
Attack: (1d20+16)[29]
Damage: (1d10+6)[12] I forgot my strength rank. Make this 13.
Chakra Cost: 2

Swift Action~! - Activate Heroic Surge

Attack Action~! - Empowered Moon Slash
Attack: (1d20+16)[36] I accidentally kept the +2 from Iaido. Make this 34.
Damage: (1d10+6)[7] I accidentally kept the +2 from Iaido. Make this 6.
Jutsu Damage: (4d6)[18]
Chakra Cost: 6

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

Yousuke's blade dances through the air like a sharp speeding toward prey. Where it darts in for a blow Roukanken meets it head-on and repels the meager "mortal" blade. Each time the two blades clash, Yousuke's sword comes away the worse for wear, whilst Roukanken only seems to feed off his strength. However, there are blows where Roukanken is not there to act as Youmu's shield. A firm strike across her chest winds the elder Konpaku, but the energy pulsing from Roukanken assures the blow draws no blood. A second strike across the elder Konpaku's left arm again draws no blood, but visibly slows her down. Even so, Yousuke can sense a distinct resistance to his blows that isn't just Roukanken. Youmu says nothing as she effortlessly switches from defense to offense. Her sword goes through the motions of an attack of the Konpaku Style.

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Legend: Hasn't changed.

Initiative: Yousuke - 22
Youmu - 22

Yousuke needs two Fortitude Saves against a DC of 15 each. For each failure his sword takes a cumulative -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls due to clashing with Roukanken. Yousuke instinctively realizes that if his sword continues to clash with Roukanken it will break. Yousuke's non-mastercrrafted sword can take a penalty equal to 10.

Damage Dealt - 39 non-lethal after DR.

Youmu activates Speed Rank 3 and Strength Rank 3.
She uses Wolf Fang Slash. She burns 8 chakra to use it.

Attack Roll - (1d20+15)[17] vs Yousuke's AC - [Whiff].
Damage Roll - (1d10+7)[17] + (3d6)[9]

Amon and Houshi

Youki shakes his head when Amon talks about going into the Konpaku's sacred dojo. "I am sorry young lady, but as I said before... Only Konpaku may enter the dojo. No one else, under any circumstances. To allow another to tread upon that sacred battlefield would be a disgrace to our clan's name."

Amon - The Day Before

The sky-nin turns up nothing in her investigations, neither the architecture nor the Cube are special or unique. There are no bodies as far as the sky-nin can tell, and nothing leaps out as different since her last visit. In fact, a thin veneer of dust has gathered across the entire room, and it seems nothing has been disturbed in several days. Kaede does his best to help, but is certainly out of his element considering he has no idea what they're searching for, or even what Amon wants him to do. Regardless, the sky jounin is happy to attempt to help. Any thoughts he has concerning what Amon speaks about remain locked away in his mind, and even when pressed he does not share them.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke breathes in and out heavily after letting up from his assault. Something was not quite right with his mother. Even with the Roukanken's mystical properties there was nothing to explain his mother's strange resistance to his attacks. But none of that mattered at the moment. The blade would simply have to last...until it broke on him. He needed to end this soon. Weaving around his mother's attacks, Yousuke ducks into range and tries for another attack.

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Status
Hit Points: 34/34
Chakra Pool: 4/26
Chakra Reserve: 12/12
Armour Class: 26
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (2/5), Spd Rank 2 (2/5), Tiger Grasps Sword

Actions
Attack Action~! - Empowered Moon Slash
Attack: (1d20+11)[18] +4 for 22.
Damage: (1d20+4)[8]
Jutsu Damage: (5d6)[16]
Chakra Cost: 7

Swift Action~! - Activate Heroic Surge

Attack Action~! - Upward Cut
Attack: (1d20+11)[14]
Damage: (1d20+5)[17]
Chakra Cost: 1

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

The sky-nin's attacks are once again met with Roukanken's edge as Youmu uses the mystical blade as a shield. Unfortunately, Yousuke's attacks are sorely lacking in accuracy, and they're brushed aside by Roukanken and his mother's skill with a blade. Youmu unleashes a powerful flurry of attacks in response.

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Yousuke misses. Not updating map since no one moved.

Youmu full-attacks Yousuke.

Attack Roll- (1d20+13)[22] - [Whiff]
Damage Roll- (1d10+7)[14] non-lethal

Attack Roll- (1d20+8)[28] - [Hit]
Damage Roll- (1d10+7)[15] non-lethal

Yousuke does not need to make any Fortitude saves this round.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke gasps in stifled pain as the Roukanken passes through him. Staggering back a ways, Yousuke desperately parries away his mother's vicious attacks. Another blow like that and he would be on the ground in short order and his mother knew it. Wearily, Yousuke weathers the attacks until at length he manages to recover his stable footing and launches his own attack.

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Status
Hit Points: 19/34
Chakra Pool: 3/26
Chakra Reserve: 6/12
Armour Class: 26
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (3/5), Spd Rank 2 (3/5), Tiger Grasps Sword

Actions
Move Action~! - Tap Chakra
Chakra Control: (1d20+8)[17] DC 14

Attack Action~! - Empowered Moon Slash
Attack: (1d20+11)[19]
Damage: (1d10+4)[7]
Jutsu Damage: (5d6)[22]
Chakra Cost: 7

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

Youmu breaks distance with Yousuke as she seemingly lowers her guard. The elder Konpaku looks at the young man with a somber gaze. "You can't win Yousuke. You know that this Roukanken can cut through anything, and it has clearly cut through your resolve. Without the will to succeed you will not win."

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Youmu readies an action to do something.

[Princess Tracy]

Last Night

"Dammit, is there really nothing here?" Amon asks of no one in particular. "Maybe if one of us were a dog, we'd sniff out where the hell this smell is coming from..."

Seeing Kaede uncomfortable, she finds she has nothing good to say, just bowing. "I'm sorry... I didn't know exactly what I was looking for out her and I still don't now. Although..." she thinks. If Shogo was the Red Eyes and they brought him here, then his eyes were removed here... shouldn't there be SOME sign of the surgery? If the smell of blood is this thick, how can the source escape our detection? It seems to be throughout the room - everywhere and nowhere. What fits that description? The room boundaries of course. But the walls don't look tampered with and I don't think there's enough space in them to make some hidden compartment anyway. The ceiling? The floor? "Why would they choose MY office to hide anything though? It was perfectly plausible I would swing by at some point and find the boy. Clearly my memory is just completely screwed, since it makes no sense... Still though, will you walk with me on this strange path a little longer, Kaede? If this blood leads me to no new clues, I suppose I'll have to give up for tonight anyway." Perhaps... I unknowingly delivered something for them?

Trying to break the mood, Amon smirks at Kaede. "Unless this mystery is too much of a challenge for Kaede-kun?"

She stands at the door, looking to Central. "Who do I talk to about buying luminol or long-wavelength light emitters? If this sccentl is a dead end, I'll pack it in for the night and you can go back to Momo. Lucky you, you get to SEE your sister."

Today

"I... I didn't mean to intrude. I thought the forbiddance was just a result of the match," Amon apologises to Youki at the door. "I suppose that means there's no chance of me being let in for a quick lesson later then?" Amon asks, smiling pleasantly. She was obviously trying to impart - and even instil in herself - some optimism that Yousuke would win. She can't help showing a dreadful sadness already though. There was electricity in the air, and it didn't seem to favour them at all

---

Amon is impressed by the incredible ferocity Yousuke explodes into to start the battle - if not for that sword she wielded, whatever it was, he'd have torn her to shreds, Amon waigered. "Go Yousuke, **** her up!" she can't help remarking before realising how possible it was that he'd hear and break focus, falling silent again as she looks to Camille, nodding and smiling for just a moment as she squeezes the girl's hand, trying to gauge her thoughts. "Have hope, Camille-chan. He might grow to be a romantic with you."

She watches as Youmu effortlessly weathers his assault, barely seeming to make much effort to slash Yousuke one. She wasn't using much chakra despite what must have been available to her - she was just screwing with Yousuke, really. How long could he hope to exploit her underestimation of him? Yousuke's speed at least seemed true as ever, but for how long... "Maybe if he gets the sword away from her," she remarks to herself. Seeing as everything Yousuke pulls out seems to fail, no matter the conviction she could see him brimming with, Amon tenses up, falling silent as Youmu reaches back for what she assumes to be a final slash. All the nerdiness, all the whining in Amon's head is dead at that moment as she watches, her breath stopping. "Yousuke..." He had a will, certainly. Whether it was to win in the way Youmu wanted or not remained to be seen

"What will does that sword embody....?"

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke laughs bitterly as he sinks into a more offensive stance. If his mother was inviting an attack then he would gladly oblige. "If you believe you have cut through my resolve then I think you will be very disappointed." Affixing his mother with a firm gaze, Yousuke answers her question.

"I fight with the strength born of my love for you. For grandfather. And let me tell you, this love is not one so easily cut. So you may cut me. Flay my skin. Shred me into ribbons. But do so at your own peril. For though you may inflict harm upon my person, the Roukanken will never sever our bonds."

"There is room for but one on the Path of the Sword, mother. So let me ask you in turn...is your own resolve great enough to cut down your own son?" Yousuke leaves no time for her to answer as he dashes in for what could be his final attack. He would know her answer before long.

Steel could not lie.

Spoiler

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Status
Hit Points: 19/34
Chakra Pool: 3/26
Chakra Reserve: 6/12
Armour Class: 26
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (4/5), Spd Rank 2 (4/5), Tiger Grasps Sword

Actions
Attack Action~! - Standard Attack
Attack: (1d20+11)[14]
Damage: (1d10+4)[14]

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

Yousuke's blade meets the Roukanken and is turned away easily. The young man cannot throw such weak attacks against the wall that is his mother with any kind of success. She rolls with the blows, then returns a slash at Yousuke. "With this kind of attack? No! Your will is weak, and there's no strength in your words. How can I trust the Roukanken to one such as you, who lacks the will to lead? Strike with everything you have, or surrender and achieve nothing."

She doesn't give Yousuke any space to respond as she slashes once more at the young man. None the less, her blows seem weaker than before, and it may be because Yousuke's words reached the woman's heart and weakened her hold on Roukanken.

Spoiler

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Youmu's readied action is wasted.

Youmu full-attacks once more.
Attack Roll - (1d20+11)[20] - [Whiff]
Damage Roll - (1d10+5)[7]

Attack Roll - (1d20+6)[8] - [Whiff]
Damage Roll - (1d10+5)[12]

Amon - The Day Before

Kaede shrugs. "Resource requisition, I suppose. I don't think you have the license for it though, but I'll request it for you." When asked about his opinion on the situation Kaede is still quiet. After all, he didn't have enough information to make wild guesses.

[Princess Tracy]

Last Night

Amon feels almost guilty to withhold the last clue from him, though it was clearly insane, not worthy of note, a delusion, right?

Amon ponders a moment. "I've given my card out a few times, though most of them are fakes." She was a little proud of her subterfuge. "I have a second more professional looking office I effectively use as a trial or dropbox as the case may be when dealing with less trustworthy customers." The card she gave to Suzunabu bore that address on it, for example, though in most cases she'd given her real address since becoming a ninja again. For civilians though... "There's only a few people that know of my operations... Omki, Kaoru and Alice, I guess. So if they sought out this base specifically because it was MY hideout..." She can't quite figure out who would be the leak. "Then again... Omki doesn't respect me enough to keep my secrets any more, so..." Amon scratches her head in thought. "Do you know if my former team mate really is in ANBU? She was discharged from the genin program after.. that, but some of the other genin told crazy rumours that she remained a ninja."

Amon coughs. "Sorry, that's not really relevant I guess..." She produces some money. "Here then, can you go buy some equipment for detecting blood then? I'll hold down the fort while I wait for you to return. Unless it will take too long in which case, I guess I'll come with - but it is a bastard to re-lock this thing. Constantly picking teh locks on the Yamana Estate has left me in a bad habit of not carrying keys with me." She feigns a chuckle, feeling odd that kaede wasn't providing one.

Today

Amon tenses as Yousuke misses, yet notes the change in Youmu's stance. Watching the blade, her technical expertise reveal to her the diffraction glimmer as teh light of the room catches the blade and knows that it is broken, yet somehow whole. It was being held together by chakra and with the softening of the woman's blows.. Amon smiles again as Yousuke dodges. "Come on, you bastard, you got this." Some part of her wished she had pom-poms and was out in the open, though it would probably ruin the effect of Yousuke's words if Youmu was throwing Youmu off thinking about them. Maybe I'll develop a technique for that

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke lashes out wildly and uselessly against his mother, eager to put Youmu on the defensive and to lure her into a rhythm. He could not fail now, not with so much on the line. The Roukanken would surely sense his strength of will, if not his strength of body. To a Konpaku swordsman these strengths were one and the same. "My will and my sword are one and the same. For a swordman cannot afford to falter when the weight of the world bears down upon his shoulders."

"You are my world, mother and I will do everything that is within my power to save you from yourself."

Spoiler

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Status
Hit Points: 19/34
Chakra Pool: 3/26
Chakra Reserve: 6/12
Armour Class: 26
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (5/5), Spd Rank 2 (5/5), Tiger Grasps Sword

Actions
Attack Action~! - Standard Attack
Attack: (1d20+11)[19]
Damage: (1d10+4)[11]

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke

Yousuke's blade surprisingly strikes its mark, as the Roukanken seems to soften against Yousuke's sword. Youmu growls as she returns a weak swing at Yousuke, but her stance and skill seems to be no different than before. Rather, it feels like the Roukanken is restraining itself rather than the other way around. Nonetheless, the two Konpaku continue to clash. This time, however, Youmu has no ideology to spew at Yousuke.

Spoiler

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Yousuke's action point gives an additional +2 to hit/damage vs the Roukanken. His 19+3+2=24, which hits by 1.

Youmu full attacks again.

Attack Roll - (1d20+11)[25]
Damage Roll - (1d10+5)[9]

Attack Roll - (1d20+6)[19]
Damage Roll - (1d10+5)[15]

Amon - The Day Before

Kaede shakes his head. "I wasn't in Soragakure's ANBU, and Cybele would have been sworn to secrecy. I have no doubt she would tell me were I to ask, but it would be both crude and unacceptable for me to ask that she break an oath for idle curiosity." Kaede goes to get some luminol.

Spoiler

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Amon needs a Will Save.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke breathes in shallow breaths as he presses his attack. For whatever reason, the Roukanken was turning on his mother. Was her own resolve faltering? If it was he would need to take advantage of it. "Roukanken senses your hesitation, mother. My own convictions are unchanged. Unwavering. Can the same be said of your own?"

Spoiler

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Status
Hit Points: 19/34
Chakra Pool: 3/26
Chakra Reserve: 6/12
Armour Class: 26
Ongoing Effects: Str Rank 1 (5/5), Spd Rank 2 (5/5), Tiger Grasps Sword

Actions
Attack Action~! - Standard Attack
Attack: [roll]1d20+13)[/roll]
Damage: [roll]1d10+6)[/roll]