Team Cybele: The Hare and the Snake

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke frowns and says with a teasing inclination, "Well, I would argue that you have not extended to us much courtesy to begin with so I can scarcely imagine what your courtesy would be worth." Smiling with an infuriatingly polite mask, Yousuke leaves the room to seek out Mako once more. "And I think I can manage, Yamana-san. She is carrying my swords. That means a lot in my clan...so I must see to her."

[Princess Tracy]

Amon pouts in her classic way. "I just wanted to read something in private - something I have no obligation to reveal to you. And quite frankly..." She plants a foot forward, flipping Koji off. Being nice isn't getting us anywhere - let's try the other extreme. I've decided Mako dies last. "Get over yourself, you skank. If you didn't want to have to deal with me you should've left us to our god damn business back in the forest."

When Yousuke heads off rejecting her ofer of advice, Amon does lighten up a bit, if only for a moment. "That Yousuke - always looking for damsels to grab him by his sword. He's been pulling on his handle for so long, it would be good to find a sheath." She snorts as she drives the thing into the ground. Good, Yousuke will split this guy's focus with any luck. "Don't keep harassing her though, Yousuke. Let her come to you - it's how I got my first 'special friend' - you have to establish a two way street of attentions, if you get my meaning."

[Princess Tracy]

"Who are you anyway, kid? Nobody introduced me to your team - you just woke me up, stole my 'weapons' and dragged me to some farmhouse on a whim without so much as a declaration of your allegiance, much less your names. I have a list I wanna put your name on, maybe a place below Sonia the Deathless. I'd say we did you plenty courtesy - we decided to surrender rather than hurting you, AND we allowed ourselves to be essentially kidnapped by you lot without understanding what might befall us. I hear what they do to pretty young blondes like me in jail - why SHOULD I be forthright with a potential captor?" She'd clearly been stuck not speaking for so long thanks to Houshi that she had a lot of bitching left over. She makes sure not to make eye contact at some point. Using a casual dojutsu-style genjutsu at some point to shut me up seems like something this ******* might try

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Koji lets Yousuke leave without a word. It wasn't his job to watch the swordsman, and that meant he didn't care what Yousuke did so long as he didn't interfere with the leaf-nin. The dark-haired Uchiha flat out ignores Amon's verbal diarrhea, and her attempts to incite a reaction are rebuffed with silence. He doesn't respond or even acknowledge that she's spoken as he watches her for any sneaky movements. Once Amon finishes regurgitating everything she's suppressed Koji responds with one simple phrase. "You lied to us. We didn't chose this fight; you did. You chose to make us enemies."

Yousuke

The young sky-nin finds the Hyuuga girl standing at the far end of the hall. She's looking out a window over the farm, and has her back to Yousuke. The girl doesn't turn around to speak to him. "Your idle flattery won't get your weapons back, and I do not need you nearby in order to keep an eye on you. It does not behoove you to stay in my vicinity, so you should find busywork to do until Sanagi-sensei returns."

[Princess Tracy]

"If I fought or made enemies of everyone who lied to me, I'd be dead by now. I don't see why lying to you is so special and taboo."

[Bad Situation]

Unfazed by her dismissal, Yousuke stands in place with his arms pinned respectfully to his sides, "Then I will simply remain in your presence until a time that you deem it necessary to relinquish my blades." Her reasoning was sound, given that her vision could pierce through solid material but he on the other hand, did not possess such a bloodline. "There is little that I could busy myself with in such a locale and you know this."

Speaking frankly he adds, "I have little desire to spend my time in the presence of one who thinks so lowly of me but as a swordsman I cannot leave things unfinished, least of all when I have shamed both myself and your team. I am trying to be sincere with my apology but if once was not enough, I will say it as many times as I must until you are satisfied."

[zeone3000]

Houshi opted to stay outside and went through katas with an imaginary blade, basic shadow training. It was quiet, something he didn't actually expect but something he was all too familiar with. It made sense once he though about it, one of them was busy, the other was pretty peeved at Yousuke and other just look like a douche. Though, he had to track down his uncle, he couldn't say be too pleased either but no to the point of douche-baggery. That just wasn't him in most cases.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon sighs as she makes to walk past the boy. "Man, i can't get a rise out of you to save my life - no matter ho joking, serious, respectful or hateful I am you're like a wall. It'd kind of freaky, actually. Can you at least tell me how far I'm allowed to wander before you tackle me to the ground and drag be back to the group so I'm not surprised when it happens? I'm in no mood for sitting around. If I have to spend time in this town, I might as well ask around about our - as always - fraudulent orders." Not really expecting a response, she checks around, content that Houshi isn't there as she slowly heads for the door on the opposite side of the house Houshi left through. Boys are stupid, why do we even have them?

"I'm serious man, first rule of keeping a prisoner restrained if to keep them happy. You're a teenage boy - I know what teenage boys think about when they stare at women for hours on end, ya weirdo - go find someone more aesthetically pleasing to keep an eye on me."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

The Uchiha continues to ignore Amon's constant talking. He likely wasn't even hearing what she was saying at this point. The boy follows Amon downstairs, and outside. The farm hasn't changed while Amon was inside. Several farmers are still in the rice patties tending to their crops, but strangely their children aren't anywhere nearby. Normally their children would be playing in the dirt nearby, but Amon hasn't seen any children since arriving.

When Amon insinuates that he would do anything he just casually responds. "I'm not interested in broken girls with missing limbs. And I won't leave a scheming lying harpy like you alone."

Houshi

The dog barks twice at Houshi shortly after the large boy exits the house. It lets him walk past, but then moves over to the house's door and sits down beside it. It watches Houshi go through his sword motions, and doesn't let the boy out of its sight. Two minutes after Houshi left the brown-haired medic steps out of the house. She moves over to the edge of the large house's porch, sits down, and watches Houshi. Her dog immediately moves beside her, and the girl rests a hand on top of its head. She watches Houshi go through the motions for practice, but says nothing unless spoken to.

Yousuke

The girl simply shakes her head. She doesn't turn to look at Yousuke, and just dismisses him again. "It does not matter how many times you apologize. You broke a fundamental trust I--we--the team placed in you. Jun helped you without reservation, and yet you still withheld information from us. It will take time for that trust to ever been regained, and it will never be as strong as it was. Please leave me alone. I will not allow anything to happen to your things, but I do not wish for you to be around me any longer."

[Princess Tracy]

Perfect, now I just need Yousuke's help to spring a trap on this guy. he seems like a man of his word after all - if there's one thing I've learned from the first mission it's that the bets way to fool someone is to let them think they've outsmarted you. I'm the weakest fighter here yet I've pulled their most accusing members - the wind is in our favour. "Well, isn't that lovely, I'm sure with that attitude the ladies need to be beaten off with a stick," Amon says with a smile. She turns straight to him, her smile plastic and her fist clenched. "I'm not broken. I'm just high-maintenance." She heads back down the road as she looks around for any sort of hub to this town where her employer might reside. "You know it's odd - it's almost like you remembered how badly I reacted when my own teammate mentioned my limbs and decided to be as offensive as possible in the hopes it would similarly get me to fall silent~ But surely I'm just being paranoid again - clearly you enjoy my company~" I'll cut something off of you, see how you like being 'broken', asshat.

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

Amon and the boy walk a short distance away from the largest house in town. The house owned by Sonada Nakazo. Whom both the leaf-nin and sky-nin teams met inside. Despite walking away from the very house that Amon had met her employer inside she starts looking around for the very house she'd just left. When Amon turns around to verbally attack the young man she catches sight of the boy's red eyes. A wave of dizziness washes over the young genin, and she reacts quickly to attempt to dispel whatever technique is affecting her. Unfortunately her abilities aren't quite that strong, and the genin falls prey to his technique.

Amon crumples to the ground in a deep slumber. She has a short dream of fire, fear, and fighting. Then it fades into darkness like a long forgotten memory. She wakes up twenty-four seconds later sitting on the ground with her back against the house they'd just left. An all-weather cloak is draped across her, and the boy from earlier is leaning against the wall watching the farmers. She doesn't remember what happened prior to falling asleep, and only remembers being extremely fatigued and passing out.

[Princess Tracy]

Amon stirs from the short dream before snapping awake with a short gasp. "Huh...?" She looks up at the leaf-nin, blinking as she regains her focus and tries to emotionally readjust from her 'nightmare' the genjutsu put her through. I'm no good at reading faces. She finds some way to glare at him with her eyes closed. If this ****er used a genjutsu on me... that's the third time I've lost consciousness form such things this week. No, screw that. Her eyes still closed as she basically growls at him, she kicks off the cloak. "Explain. Now."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

The boy shrugs. "You complained about a headache, then sat down. You fell asleep, so I put the cloak over you. Do you need Jun to check you out?"

Spoiler

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Amon can attempt a sense motive at DC 22 to detect he's lying.

[Bad Situation]

"...I understand. I will leave you alone then."

Sighing resignedly, Yousuke turns to leave and exits the room. Feeling like a complete cad, he exits the house to find Houshi going through drills. Leaning against the porch he says aloud, "I have failed both my honor and the team today, Houshi. A swordsman is not cut out for lying, is he?"

Looking down to Jun and her dog he asks, "Do you have any harsh words to say to me? I deserve it, after all I've done today."

[ZeroNumerous]

Yousuke and Houshi

Jun just levels a surprised look at Yousuke, then she nods sagely as if she remembered some strange fact known only to her. "Girl trouble, huh? Lemme guess, Mako gave you what-for when you kept trying to flirt with her?"

The Inuzuka girl pats her dog's head as she continues on. "Ya. She trusted you, and you burned her. She'll be angry for awhile, but she'll get over it. She's too good for that. I'm still a bit miffed about the whole thing, but whatever. It's too much trouble to bother being angry all the time."

[Princess Tracy]

"No one falls asleep and wakes up in the span of thirty seconds, you condescending bastard..." Amon says through clenched teeth.

"Bull****. The key to detecting genjutsu is to watch for discontinuity. And I wouldn't fall asleep in front of a ninja, never never, none except medical professionals and my sensei, and you are certainly not the latter. I'd rather keep walking until I passed out on my feet!" She didn't know if he was lying, but she didn't trust anyone described as a 'genjutsu master'. Dropping all pretence, her eyes were still tightly shut. "You don't want to start some technique petty prank war with me, bitch, it won't end well for you..." She stands, throwing off the cloak, still not opening her eyes, having memorised every step back to the house. This trip had been educational in the worst possible way; he was tough, she knew it, and perhaps a bored sadist. And he was only kept on his leash by his 'friends'. She heads back into the house, never looking higher than foot level even when she does open her eyes a little, and swaying her gaze around a fair bit, intending to outmaneuvre that scummy dojutsu user. Seeing Houshi out front she stops, turning to instead take the long way around. She was getting exercise, at least.

Spoiler

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Where's Sonada now? Maybe with Houshi out of the way, I can get a word in with.... this place is quiet. too quiet. Children. Garou. Fraudulent orders. Intentional, crap. No, ANOTHER trap for Cybele? It has to end somewhere, this crap, so no, but still a setiup. Must be cautious - could be related to Garou after all - with their blodlines, may even be dojutsu user. musn't make eye contact with anyone then, I guess. God, I'm paranoid, but who can blame me with this genjutsu weilder breathing down my neck?

Amon casually searches her bag, ensuring nothing was meddled with as she looks for Sonada, doing everything in her power to not make eye contact with anyone as she palms her mission scroll for today.

[Bad Situation]

Sitting down beside Jun, Yousuke hunches over and rests his chin against the palm of his hand. "I guess you were right to call me a little boy, given my recent string of failures..." At any rate, it was a relief to see that at least one of the Leaf genin was still willing to talk to him. Glancing at the large dog beside Jun he decides to broach the question, "I take it all Inuzuka have dogs like this. How long have you had him?"

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Koji shrugs. "Believe whatever you want." The Uchiha follows Amon as she wanders around. The sky-nin eventually finds Sonada inside the house where they had last seen him. The old man turns around when the two ninja enter, and he smiles.

"Koji. It's good to see you again. Who's your pretty friend?" The Uchiha just shakes his head, then introduces Amon.

"This is a pain in the ass that I have to babysit." The old man frowns, then shakes his head. He turns to Amon and smiles.

"Welcome young lady. Do you need anything?"

Yousuke

Jun just looks at the dog, and he barks at her in response. "Ya. I don't like it either." She says to the dog before looking up at Yousuke. "Houki says you should cheer up. Things are going badly, but I'm sure Bea-sama won't kill you." When questioned about Houki Jun just shrugs.

"All my life, I guess. I don't remember not having Houki around, so I can't really answer your question. We're like brother and sister now." Houki barks and Jun laughs. "Haha. Houki says he's the older brother."

[Princess Tracy]

Amon clears her throat. "Go away, 'Koji'." She catalogues his name, now I know ONE name at least, it seems. "I have private business with the proprietor, your services are not required at this time"

Whether he leaves or not, Amon flips her headband around, slightly covering her eyes as she presents the business end of the Soragakure seal, saluting to it as she presents her mission scroll. "Amon Yamana, genin of Soragakure, at your service Sonada Nakazo. You'll have to forgive me, I'm usually more upbreat, but we are not in the best spirits with certain elements limiting our staff, which will incidentally increase the difficulty of this mission. More importantly, I bring news of Ueki." She hopes the intrigue should get Koji tossed out the room to give her a few minutes to actually think.

[Bad Situation]

Yousuke smiles at their antics but feels out of his depth when the two compare themselves to siblings. "I am not exactly the cheerful type, even on the best of days," he admits lamely. However, looking at the two he can't help but add, "But perhaps for your sake, I will try." He had none of his grandfather's easy-going nature and even less of the man's mirth, if such a thing was even possible. According to Youki, he inherited much of his thoughtful nature from both his father, though the identity of the man who shared his blood remained a mystery even to this day.

"It warms me to see others appreciate their family as much as I do."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Koji leans up against the wall and stays there. Nothing Amon says phases the boy, and he certainly has no interest in moving.

Nakazo frowns when Amon tells him of her name and why she came. "I was getting worried. I expected more of you though, and earlier than this. I'm afraid things have changed since I sent that letter. The Garou returned in force, and kidnapped many of our children. They hurt a few of our farmhands, but luckily your ninja friends were around to help us out with injured."

Nakazo closes his eyes, then sighs. "I am afraid I must ask you to destroy the Garou clan. They have proven that peace with them is impossible."

Houshi and Yousuke

Jun just laughs when Yousuke talks about being cheerful for her sake. Houki growls at the young sky-nin, but Jun just pats him on the head to get him to stop. "You're a real ladykiller, aren't ya? Sorry kiddo, but you're not my type. And I'm sure it'd upset Mako even more if you kept flirting with me."

Houki looks to Jun, barks, then looks back to Yousuke. Jun giggles before responding to the dog. "Ya, I guess you're right." She then looks back to Yousuke. "Houki says you're trying too hard. He says the quickest way to a girl's heart is by rolling on your back and showing her your belly."

[Bad Situation]

"Ladykiller?" Why did so many people assume he was after women? And why did they seem to believe he was any good at it? "...if you say so, Jun-san. I do not understand why you believe me to be so flirtatious but if that is your opinion of me I suppose it is preferable to being an uncouth liar."

At the mention of Mako, Yousuke flushes embarassedly, "Ah, I did not realize that the two of you were...inclined in that nature." Remembering lines of a similar nature that had occurred only a week or so prior to today he lowers his head in shame, "Then I must apologize for getting in the way of your relationship with Hyuuga-san."

[Princess Tracy]

I knew we should have gone faster. Whose idea was it to not land hop? Wasn't mine... Dammit, more people dead... "So that's how you know the Garou?" Amon asks Koji before whispering harshly. "You seem pretty set on the idea they don't take prisoners." She turns back to the old man looking as grim as he was. "Apologies. Our jounin ended up being kidnapped by a third party and the only other ninja around for miles made it clear they would do everything in their power to stop us doing anything of value for this mission, so we're operating with very little strength... Our previous encounter with the Garou almost killed all of us, we can't afford to blunder in again with scant information."

Amon removes her headband, letting her hair hang out as she looks to the ground. "Why are all the Garou we fight children? And more importantly, why did you not tell us Ueki Tsume's allegiance? The Garou refer to her as one of their own!"

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Koji looks down his nose at Amon. "I know they don't take prisoners because I do my homework."

Sonada looks rather confused. "I don't know. The Garou we've seen have been adults. And my grand-daughter would never join the Garou when they kidnapped her in the first place."

Yousuke

Jun shrugs. "The way you talk. Maybe you were just raised by someone who taught you some weird values." When Yousuke dances around with his words Jun just gives him a confused look. Reality dawns on Jun when Yousuke talks about their relationship. "Ah. No. Mako is too lady-like for that. She's into pretty guys like you or Koji."

[Princess Tracy]

Something snaps in Amon's head at the single tidbit of information from the old man. "The Garou... can steal more than just bloodlines." She spins around victoriously, pointing at Koji. "You, you've 'done your homework'. Care to offer an explanation before I blunder in there and get my skin stolen? At the very least, stop me if I'm theorising something too crazy (or more importantly wrong)." She can't really look the old eye anymore than she will Koji, but for decidedly different reasons. "I don't know if your grand-daughter can be saved, but I'l do what I can..." She picks a wall away from Koji to lean against as she cradles her forehead in though. "Please, tell me all about it. How the Garou came to be her and how she ended up in their hands. Their methods might contain a valuable clue yet..."

So this is what it comes down to... either Ueki is with the Garou or the Garou are pod people of some sorts. Either way I don't know how we'll handle this

[zeone3000]

Houshi continues his drills, "Trust me, he ain't no lady killer. They probably, barely understand what he's getting at when he talks like he's from a soap opera." He shakes his head, "Anyway, last time I checked, no. I haven't had a reason to lie to anyone. We are supposed to cut the lies with the truth that is our blades. Though, I'll always consider myself a swordsmen first and a ninja second." He stops for a moment and gives a Yousuke that seems to say, How 'bout you?

[Bad Situation]

Thinking of Youki and his casual perversion, he scrunches his eyes and sighs, "I suppose...I cannot deny that." Youki was a good man, nobody could deny this, but he was perhaps not the greatest role model when it came to certain situations. Pouting at Jun's description of him, he points out"And I am not a pretty boy. Grandfather says I am handsome, the way he was when he was my age."

"Nor do I speak as though I am from a soap opera," he says, scowling at Houshi. "I am both a swordsman and shinobi in equal parts, two parts of a whole wedded together when my grandfather chose Soragakure as out home."

Shrugging, Yousuke turns to a new question, "Which begs the question. Have my actions belittled me in the eyes on my clan or have I honored them by serving Soragakure faithfully? I suppose only time will tell."

[ZeroNumerous]

Amon

Koji just shakes his head. "Don't be stupid. The Garou don't steal skin."

But a loud knock on the door stops the conversation before Koji can explain or Amon can question the mayor. Koji opens the door, and the dark-haired Hyuuga girl stands just outside of it. She looks toward Amon, then back to Koji. "Sanagi-sensei came back."

Houshi and Yousuke

While the genin talk amongst one another Jun casually pets her dog. After a while she points toward the road. A familiar woman wearing a Leaf uniform and an eye-patch starts heading up the road. She obviously isn't injured, and her clothing isn't even damaged. Bea walks toward the village slowly. Jun waves when she gets closer, and the one-eyed swordsman returns her wave.

Sanagi looks at the two sky-nin, then to Jun. "What are you two doing here?" Jun explains the situation, and Sanagi nods. "Hm. So you all were Kaede's minions. Well, he's gone now. So you're free to go." Jun gives Bea a confused look, but Sanagi explains herself. "There's no need to hold them. They're just minions."

Jun shrugs then sticks a thumb toward Houshi's sword. "Well, you can get your stuff and leave then, I guess."

[Bad Situation]

Before he returns to Mako for his swords, Yousuke asks, "And what of the Garou? And of Kaede himself? You are not obligated to answer of course, but I feel I must ask." Where was Kaede? Had she actually killed him or had the Uchiha escaped with his life somehow? With too many questions to ask, Yousuke instead resolves to clear his mind of them. Before he reenters the home be bows deeply and apologizes, "I have greatly shamed my clan's legacy with the way I treated both you and your team. I offer my humblest apologies." It ruffled him to be called a minion, but that really was what they were in the grand scheme of things.

[Princess Tracy]

"Well, it's not that farfetched - I mean, I think my sensei..." Amon is cut off in her debate with Koji by the new presence. Her eyes widen at the news. I-it's only been about 5 minutes since we arrived, bad timing I was going to sneak off after getting news of our mission here. She must have been just behind us on the road in that case - if she was quick enough to dispose of Kaede, she could have returned before us easily enough. Unless... Perhaps Kaede got the better of her somehow? If there's a genjutsu at work, perhaps I should stay here and keep the Uchiha distracted? But if she's here to kill us... I'm not letting Houshi and Yousuke die alone, at least. Amon gulps, hoping for the best as she waves with some finality to Sonada. "Hopefully we'll get to continue this conversation," she offers nervously. Pushing past the Uchiha, tracs through the hall, to the front door where all the commotion was. She keeps largely hidden from view behind the doorframe as she listens, but after a bit, can't resist the urge to peer our from behind her cover a bit, eyeing up this Sanagi Bea she'd heard so much of. "Minions... Free to go...?" she whispers as she skulks, observing the scene. She concentrates for a bit, trying to figure something out.

Spoiler

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Amon senses chakra on everyone outside. Yousuke will probably have no trouble seeing her as he comes to the door, if nothing else

She hopes for the best in the response, if any, to Yousuke's question of Kaede's state, but knows there is a risk in pressing the issue.