Naruto d20 (Team B)

[King_of_GRiffins]

Enuferiu

Shrugs off the odd manner in which the chores were delivered to them, following after Kaori as he busies himself with division of labor.

"Let's see... We should all stop by Taka's first so we can talk to Motoko and pick up the money. I can stay and look at the safe, while one of you begins looking into that shopliftting, while the other brings back the things on the shopping list. Whatever 'looking' may imply, I'll have it in hand by the time the things return, and we'll all go to investigate before returning again to deal with the flowers. Sound good?"

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Kaori grins and readies himself to move out.

"I'm glad one of use knows what they're doing!"

Looking to Mitsuhide, he begins to walk slowly, back in the direction of the village.

[Callos_DeTerran]

It seemed to take longer on the way from the Great Tree to Taka's apartment building, perhaps because of the laundry list of chores that had to be done once they got there. Despite the displeasure with the tasks they had been given though, the three of you have little trouble actually finding the way there. After all, Kaori broke in there and Enu lived right down the hallway from Taka.

Unlike before the apartment was quiet, nary a sound to be heard coming from the doorway, even once one of knocked on the door. Maybe it was just paranoia or experience from recent events, but a feeling of trepidiation creeps into your hearts. What sort of tragedy had happened now?

There was a sense of surprise when Kaori tried the doorknob and found the place unlocked. Glancing back at each of his team-mates, the raiton-specialist pushed it open quietly to reveal a comfortable living room. Two pine green couches faced each other in the middle of the room, a short table the only thing between them. Dual large windows let in plenty of sunlight, enough to easily light the room without the assistance of several tall lamps stationed in the corners. Directly across from the doorway a short hallway with numerous doors along the sides leads to a very familiar door...for Kaori at least...Taka's bedroom.

As the note had promised a large pile of money had been neatly set on the very edge of the table, bound with a white strip of paper to keep it from easily falling apart. Of the safe or Motoko, there was no sign. All of the other doors branching off from this room were firmly closed, but none seemed locked when the knobs were carefully turned so as to not make a noise.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Akira Enuferiu

Enuferiu stared around the room for a moment. Though he lived down the hall, he had never actually glimpsed the room. Gee... This is nicer than my apartment. I've got to get mother to buy some new furniture...

Nothing seemed too odd, even though Motoko and the safe were nowhere is sight. Curious for directions, he took another look at the list and read over it carefully. It didn't give any directions for where the safe is or what was wrong, and it all made sense except for those soldier pills. Without looking up, he inquires, "Seems Take gave us money for techniques, but where would we get enough cash to pay for those Soldier Pills? She's asking for enough for a small brigade."

He keeps on staring at the list, standing dead still for a moment before looking over to Mitsuhide. "Hey, I think that orb we found might be important."

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

"I believe so as well, Enuferiu-san. None of this makes sense, otherwise..."

Mitsuhide looks around the apartment, his expression surprisingly crestfallen. Apparently, his experiences are not far enough removed from the last time he was at this apartment...

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Kaori pockets the bundle of money and pats down his clothes.

"Eh, we have to find a safe first... I can go and get the shopping if you guys want to stick around and search, maybe if Mitsuhide-san wants to come with me? Enu-kun, you probably know the lay out of these places better than us..."

Kaori then looks to the wind that they had previously escaped from and recalled the forbidden technique scrolls he had read before.

"But personally... well this place doesn't sit well with me, right?""

[King_of_GRiffins]

Enuferiu

"We aren't going shopping Kaorin..", points out Enuferiu, glancing towards the door to make sure they closed it on the way in. He goes over to the windows quietly and pulls the curtains over them, commenting towards the outside, "It's too bright in here."

The room now as bright as it can be in a city full of shadow with the curtains drawn, Enuferiu turns to his companions. "Let me be clearer; We aren't going shopping because this notes message is not an apparent one. We could follow exactly as stated, but then we'd be wasting most of our time planting flowers.

"The first letters in each line of the note spell out 'Orb Important'. This can't be the only message; The note is too suspicious to leave at just one. I don't see any simple associations with real instructions, so any messages will be in a real grammatical format rather than abstract."

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Kaori raises and eyebrow.

"It's a note, not a legal document..."

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

Mitsuhide looks around uneasily for a moment before sighing.

"Well... it can't hurt to look at the note again, at least. If there is a message, it would be best to find out what it is right away... Enuferiu-san, do you have any idea what it is we're looking for?"

[King_of_GRiffins]

Akira Enuferiu

Enuferiu shakes his head and looks again at the note. "I'm not sure what we should be looking for, though there is always the possibility that it's all gibberish just for the one message. For the moment, we could see if there really is a safe, which will put our note into some sure light."

Spoiler

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Enuferiu will Aid Another for a search check, whichever of Mitsuhide or Kaori has the higher search modifier.

[Callos_DeTerran]

With a set plan in mind, Mitsuhide and Enu set out to search the room from top to bottom in search of this mysterious safe. With the two of them working together, and Kaori carefully making sure that everything was replaced from where it had been moved from, it was quickly determined that if this safe existed, then it wasn't in the living room or kitchen area. That left one of four doors to enter into and check, one of which was their jounin's bedroom with the other three being unknown.

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

The look of terror spreads across the paling-to-white concealed face of Kaori as he looks slowly to the door behind him.

"....eh... Who's up for going in Taka-sensei's bed room? I'll take on any jounin that attack us but Sensei's bedroom is a scary, scary place my mind forbids me to enter..."

[King_of_GRiffins]

Enuferiu

Without much-ado, Enuferiu slowly walks over to Taka-sensei's bedroom door and opens it fully, peering around inside curiously. Before much is seen, he calmly states, "So would that be cubicuphobia? Seems normal to me..."

Spoiler

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Spot - (1d20+2)[17]

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

"So you say, but..."

Mitsuhide exchanges nervous glances with Kaori

"You're history with Taka-sensei is rather... erm... different."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Mitsuhide and Kaori instinctual response to the door opening, stepping back, didn't seem to dissuade Enu from opening it up and looking around inside of it curiously. Unknown to Enu, who hadn't been inside before, not much from the place had changed. A couple of raggedy looking stuff animals and books still lay strewn about the floor and a bed and dresser were still sitting across from each other as if crouched in preparedness to battle each other.

As the mechanically minded genin stepped into the bedroom Mitsuhide and Kaori peered inside of it as well. To Kaori a couple of things seemed out of place though. The pile of meticulously kept scrolls was no where to be seen, either stolen or hidden away (seeming the more likely option) and the middle photo, the one with the young girl, Gin, Taka, and the bearded man had been removed entirely. Before he could ponder on this more though, Enu gave a delighted cry. He had found a carefully positioned safe hidden behind the dresser and a thin sheet of plaster that seemed relatively new to it. A rather...intimidating looking safe, a combination lock squatted in the middle of the door as if to interpose itself between the ninja and the safe.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Enuferiu

Curiously, Enuferiu gets close to the safe and examines it. He controls his urge to begin spouting facts; Model, year, how many feet it could be safely submerged under water... He taps at the combination lock, listening to the metalic clink of his nails against it. "There's no way I'm going to be able to break into this," he states to himself.

The genin takes another quick look at the scroll in his hand, then back at the safe. Holding the scroll open in front of him, he reaches out to the combination lock and turns it in order; 12-4-86-95

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

Sighing, Mitsuhide steps into the room to look at the safe, still more than half expecting something to leap out and attack him. He watches Enuferiu look at the safe and the note, and holds his temple as if in pain when the engineering-driven genin begins to work the combination.

"...Oh."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Once Enu put in what he thought was the combination the safe gave a rather ominous sounding click and swung open. Inside was remarkably bar but it did hold some small things of note, the first of which where multiple sealed scrolls which looked to have been hastily shoved in there. The second was another glass bauble, this one yellow to the others whitish-blue. As Enu reached in and pulled out the bauble to examine it, Kaori heard something coming from the front door of the apartment.

Stealthily approaching, he could hear it much more clearly the second time it happened, knocking. Blinking, the genin paused for a moment and glanced back wondering if he really should be going and opening up the door to his jounin's apartment. What if they were on business specifically with Taka? What if it was Taka?

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, the question was rendered moot as one of the doors the three had bypassed swung open and an all too familiar voice called out.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" As the door swung shut, Kaori was face-to-back with Motoko who looked as if she had been sleeping in late if the headphones and pajamas where any indication of what she had been doing in her room and why she had not noticed the intruders. However she paused at the doorway, as if waiting to see if whoever was out there would knock again before opening it...

[King_of_GRiffins]

Akira Enuferiu

Enuferiu perks his head up after hearing Motoko call out to the knock at the door. It was certainly a possibility she was home to begin with, but this turn of events really was not beneficial. He rushed up from the safe, kicking it closed with his foot on his way up and half-sprinting out Taka's bedroom door. He jams the two orbs into his pocket on his way out and doesn't give a second glance to his teammates as he heads strait for Motoko.

"Motoko!" he hisses in a harsh whisper as he grabs one of her hands. His foot skips a step as he pulls her away from the door and spins her around, sending him skipping strait at her. He collides chest to chest with the female, and catches his arms around her waist to prevent him from falling onto the floor. He looks up from his near-breast height with an incredibly red face. "Uh... Hi...", he states in the same manner as a mouse might when caught with a hand full of cheese. He shakes himself partly out of the daze and states as calmly and seriously as possible, "Ask who's at the door first."

I'm dead, so dead... She's going to kill me, then some thief is going to burst in and kill me, then Taka is going to kill me when she hears about this....

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Kaori, startled by the turn of events, makes his way up to Enuferiu.

"Eh. Motoko-chan... bear with us because i'm no longer entirely sure what's going on..."

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

Still holding his head (and very much feeling a headache coming on), Mitsuhide walks back out to the others, dropping his hand in surprise when he sees Motoko. He looks at her for a moment, and then at Enu. He frowns, and shakes his head.

He walks over to the door, and calls in a clear voice through the door -

"Okabashi residence. May I ask as to your name and purpose of visit?"

[Callos_DeTerran]

"My name is Rusumo Orgo. I have a delivery for either Okabashi Taka or Okabashi Motoko. Is either of those two home...am I at the right apartment?" The voice that came from the other side of the door sounded disoriented and more then a little-bit confused. As if to ensure that there was in fact a door in front of them or it was the right place the hand knocked experimentally once more. Something about it seemed a little off to Kaori though...it tickled a memory from a good time ago, before he had come to Kagekure and become a shinobi there...but it wasn't the voice of the one who had brought about the transfer in the first place either...

Enu's situation was far more dire though. He could actually see the transition from sleepy confusion to shocked-and-violent outrage at what she was looking at and it definitely wasn't pretty either. Motoko's face went from pale white to bright red before steadily turning an angry crimson as individual veins made themselves known in her forehead. Next thing that Enu knew was that the more-then-taijutsu-capable girl was throwing him down to the ground and glowering down at him.

"What the hell do you think your doing?! You Kami-damned perverted bastard!" Each word in that string of profanities was punctuated with a sharp and rather painful kick to Enu's head which ended up bouncing his head off the floor just in time to come back into contact with her foot again with the next stop. It was a lot like being the pong ball in between one incredibly violent paddle and one very hard one.

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

"...Rusumo-san, yes? You have the correct apartment. Unfortunately, Okabashi Taka-sama is currently out on business. Is there another way I can be of--"

"What the hell do you think your doing?! You Kami-damned perverted bastard!"

"Er... excuse me for a moment. Kaori-san, could handle the situation at the door?"

Mitsuhide rushes from the door to Motoko and Enu. He reaches out a hand to place it on Motoko's shoulder, then think better of it and retracts it. Instead, he tries to speak soothingly and calmly.

"Motoko-dono... you'll kill him if you keep this up. I think he's learned his lesson..."

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Now thoroughly confused and worried, Kaori nods and runs up to the door.

"Hello, you needed to speak with Taka-sensei?"

[King_of_GRiffins]

Akira Enuferiu, paddle-ball initiate

The unfortunate genin cries short yelps of pain with each crack of his head against either the mad girls foot or the floor. On a tangent of this, somewhere in his mind, the foot was just slightly softer than the floor when it hit, but that wasn't really something to worry about when one's head is between someones foot and that same persons floor.

Enu desperately scrambles backwards, uttering what few words he can while temporarily outside of her rage. "Aaaaah! I'm sorry! Please stop, I only slipped! I... I'm too young to even think about doing what you're thinking I was doing!"

In cowardly defense, he tries to back up against a wall and cover his head with his arms, curling up into a fetal ball to forstall the onslaught.

[Callos_DeTerran]

It was as Enu was crawling away in his defense and Mitsuhide gave the voice of reason that Motoko finally gave up on kicking the genin and stood there, breathing hard and with a look that would cut iron if looks could do such a thing. And it was also that same look that swiveled around to Mitsuhide as she rolled up the sleeve of her right arm and growled out. "You better have a very good reason for being in here Mitsuhide, because I know my mother isn't in town so she can't have told you to come in here."

At the door there was a long pregnant pause as if the person on the other-side of it was dumbfounded by what it heard. The moments ticked by and Kaori couldn't help but wonder if the visitor had left but then the voice came again and sounded much more excited. "If you could open the door then maybe you could sign for the package then Kaori-kun."

That struck a nerve, or rather a memory. There was only a couple of people who had ever called him Kaori-kun and all of them had been...well they had been in Amegakure and for all he knew they were still there.

Something jingled. 'Something' was the second sword belted unto Mitsuhide's waist as it squirmed in it's sheath like a live snake and drew the eye of the wrathful Motoko "Hey..what's up with your sword?"

Spoiler

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Mitsuhide only:

Spoiler

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Just as Motoko spoke, another far more sinister voice spoke into the swordsman's mind. Unlike before though it didn't sound nearly as bloodthirsty or pleading...and it yelled only one thing to him.

LOOK OUT!

[PokeTheBard]

Inosuki Kaori

Taken aback, Kaori went to open the door but cautiously tensed his arm and stood on the back foot.

"Eh, i'm opening the door then."

He opens the door ajar and peers round the crack of the door.

[PhoeKun]

Asano Mitsuhide

Mitsuhide meets Motoko's gaze of fury with a surprisingly calm look of his own. It isn't that she's stopped being intimidated, it's... he's not sure what it is. Perhaps it's that he has a valid explanation, or maybe that he's fought her before, and understands what she can do more than he did before. Or maybe it's because... it's Motoko, and for whatever reason, that means something. But there isn't really time to reflect on that - she clearly expects an answer.

"Your mother... er... Taka-sensei left us written instructions. We were told, among other things, to instruct you to spend tonight at a friends. In honesty, though, most of the note is written in code, so there may or may not be anything to that particular order. You should probably just do what you like..."

And then, his sword begins to wriggle in its sheath. He grips it gently to calm it, and whips around to face the door as Kaori opens it.

"It's... trying to warn me. Be careful, all of you."

[King_of_GRiffins]

Akira Enuferiu

Safe from his beating, Enuferiu takes a moment to catch his breath. As his head starts spinning he gains a better sense of events as they continue to occur, gazing quickly from Mitsuhide's sword and warning over to the soon to open door. Without thinking very hard on what he says, he swallows another bit of pride and shouts out,

"Kaori~, don't open that door," he says a bit childishly, "Motoko's only in towel; You'll embarrass her if you let anyone else in." Though he speaks with ease, his look towards Kaori is one that simply say "don't".

[Callos_DeTerran]

Kaori glanced back at Enu for only a moment before shaking his head and pulling the door open only a crack. A bright eyed face looked back at him, brown hair obscuring them and a rather ordinary face as well. As a matter of fact all of the slightly older boy seemed absolutely ordinary. Unremarkable in anyway...but it did strike a cord.

Kaori Only:

Spoiler

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You recognize the kid from your days in Amegakure before the fateful assault that had resulted in your capture. His name truly is Rusumo Orgo and he had been another one who had been accepting training with Karaji. Him and a girl...Saki. They hadn't been taken along on the caravan assault but then again you never saw them much at all, just enough to be introduced and hear some things about them.

Spoiler

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A DC 13 Wisdom check (Free action, can attempt multiple times) will reveal more info about them to you.

Orgo's face lit up in a grin as Kaori saw him and vice versa, obviously happy to see the other. Then it faltered and was replaced by confusion and uncertainty . "It really is you Inosuki! I thought you were dead though, what are you doing here?" The Rain-nin's angle wasn't good enough to see past the masked genin standing in his way, unable to see the combat ready Mitsuhide, Motoko, or Enu standing in the living room.

Mitsuhide:

Spoiler

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The voice sounds again, a wail of regret. "No! The window!

The sword's warning came too late, the left window shattering into dozens of shimmering shards. A blue-fletched arrow sped through the opening that it had created into the apartment, burying itself into Motoko's side. Spinning about from the force of the shot the young woman slammed into the opposite wall of the living room and grunted in pain.

"Dammit! Who shot that?!"

The suspect in question, for anyone who looked for them, was a figure across the street. Stretched out across the roof-top to present a harder target, the person reached back and drew another of the brightly fletched arrows from a quiver and put it into their bow and pulling back the string in one graceful motion.