Quid Pro Quo [Kara and Kinz]

[Coal]

Encounter on Rain Drops

“Uh. I hate this country already. What is with all of this rain?”

Kara walked along the muddied roads, the rain falling down upon her twelve year old frame, plastering her raven black hair to her face and neck. Is this what her father wanted her to see? Dreary countries that should be wiped from the face of the earth? Surely this was not it. There was the matter of getting the scrolls from Takigakure no Sato as well, which would ensure that she could return to the village once again, and keep from disappointing Uncle Axcel and her father Sekitan. The question was how she was going to manage getting these scrolls, since Takigakure was so heavily guarded, and all she had was her bloodline to fall back on. Taking a seat on a nearby rock on the side of the road, she placed her head in her right hand, pondering out loud to herself.

“It would be nice if I could just trade for the scrolls…”

[Kinz]

Rain. Always the smooth falling pitter patter of the lovely substance. It was his country. A lovely place. Muteki was being forced to wait for that idiot Souzen while he was away, so he was becoming rather rambunctious. His cigar smoke streamed out as a rather bulsterous laugh came forth. The women who his arm was around held the umbrella low around them. Her giggles chimed through the air. He had picked her up at a nearby tea house, and was bringing her back to the village for some …activities. She was one for the books. More curvy then a country road.

As they passed by the sulking little one on the side of the road, Muteki made his move. His arm that had been around her shoulder extended and began reaching down her front. It was heading beneath the top of her dress. The forbidden fruit was in reach. And just as soon as the opportunity came, it went. Her hand lashed out catching him on the side of the head, and she ran away screaming. Stunned, Muteki stood there now outside the cover of the umbrella, staring at her running to the horizon. Well, at least he didn’t pull out little Muteki this time and take a shot down there. It was a small silver lining.

As Muteki’s cigar fizzled out in the rain, he took it from his mouth and inspected it, discarding it to the side of the road. As he followed the cigars path to the gutter, his eyes crossed the form of a little girl….sitting in the rain. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey girlie. What are you doin sitting in this rain? Your gunna catch your death out here. Come on. Find some cover or something brilliance.” Muteki became rather harsh with the senseless girl….mainly because he had experience with those who had an immortality complex, and who were not in fact immortal like he was. It was always left to the powerful to show the meek the way. Perhaps a rest stop or something nearby? “Come on kid. You gotta get outta this rain. What are you doin out here anyhow?” His slurred speech smelled of alcohol, though impossible for him to get drunk, he enjoyed putting on the illusion of such a thing. “lets go, there’s a rest stop over there. Get under cover.” He would say pointing her over to the covered house with the bench in front.

[Coal]

“You are an oddly nice passerby. Sure, I’ll follow you.”

She would follow him to this beach house on the edge of the lake, walking a little behind him and to his right, probably only because her legs were so much shorter than his. Had he not come along, Kara was fully prepared to sit there and figure out her problem, pondering like the Great Thinker. Luckily, this guy looked like he could help somehow, if only to give her an idea of what she should do when she reached Taki no Kuni, because she hated running into things blindly. She would cross the threshold of the building and enter the common room, taking a seat on a couch there, not really caring if there were other people who actually lived at this house.

“Would you happen to know anything about Takigakure gates, mister? I would so like to visit the village.”

Clearly a lie. In fact, you could probably discern her true agenda from that little bit alone, that she was going to Takigakure no Sato for one reason. She was definitely no Takigakure ninja from her pale skin. Kara sat back on the couch, eating one of the blue fruits indigenous to Yuki no Kuni, watching Kinz with her pitch black eyes.

[Kinz]

As they entered the house and the girl began to make herself at home, Muteki began investigating about. He walked into a connecting room, and lit one of his cigars to replace the one he had earlier, then began rummaging through the cabinets. Finally he came to the one he needed. Removing a towel from within, he’d let it swing closed and return to the room with the girl, tossing the towel to her. Removing the cigar from his teeth, muteki responded rather callously to her question.

“Why you wanna go to that shit hole?” As he spoke his arms moved along, trailing smoke all around him from the cigar. “I was there the other day as a matter of fact. Piece of shit. Their gate was actually being attacked. Humph, losers. It did however work to my advantage. But that’s neither here nor there.”

Inspecting the girl a moment, he noticed her pale skin. Noone from any country he had been to had skin of that shade. So that meant she had to be from either the land of sound, or the land of snow, and since the area’s around snow had nobody with that shade of coloring, he could basically narrow it down to the land of snow….or she could just be an oddity, and he was totally off base. It didn’t much matter to Muteki though, she was just a little girl.

“Hey kid, if you’re lookin for the waterfall village, what are ya doin in rain? Little outta the way aint it? Where’s your folks?”

Muteki couldn’t help seeming rather adult like in this instance. Perhaps it was his time as kage, or the year he had spent training genin during the revolution, but he had a soft spot for the young ones. Perhaps it was because they hadn’t lived long enough to become a disappointment to him, and be cowards like so many in rain had become. But regardless, he awaited the girls responses. He wanted to make sure she was ok before leaving her alone.

[Coal]

Kara watched as Kinz left the area they were in, not really wondering what he was doing, but you could say that she was slightly curious. In the back she could hear the rummaging, a pretty focused search for rummaging actually, from the sound of it at least. Suddenly Kinz reappeared, holding a cotton towel in his hand, and she could only guess that it was for her. Wait, why did Kinz seem so dry, except for his clothing of course, he seemed to be rather unaffected by the rain. That was certainly weird, but maybe he just dried faster than she did. Catch the towel he tossed to her, she started at her head first, working he way down to dry her as much as possible. During that drying process, Kinz asked her why she would want to go to that “shit hole”, as he put it so eloquently. But exactly what did he mean “worked to his advantage”? Guess it was time to find out.

“Sounds like you made off like a bandit. Heh. I actually need to pick up a few documents from Takigakure no Sato.”

This guy was focusing on her rather intently, analytically, but not like he was some kind of dirty old man pervert. It was more of a guy trying to figure her out, which might not be good, since he had to remain covert. Wait, maybe it could work to her advantage, if he did what she thought he did. A little off track? Where were her folks? Well, guess there is no harm in telling him, eh? So Kara sat up, placing her elbows in her lap, putting her forearms together but keeping her hands open, then resting her head there. Might as well. If things went south, she would just have to fight her way out and probably kill this guy, even though she kinda liked him in friend sense of the word.

“My father, Sekitan An’ei, is in a tank healing his body. About this being a little out of the way, I actually think this may have been for the best after all.”

That name drop should be enough to tell that she was Yukigakure no Sato in the Country of Snow, since Sekitan had been the first Kage of that place, and all Kage knew the other Kages, or something like that. Of course, Kara had no idea that Kinz had been a Kage, she did not know anything of Kage outside of her father and Axcel. Hopefully this was for the best, she did not want to have to fight just yet, since it would be pointless.

[Kinz]

“Hmm, Sekitan?” said Muteki quizzically. It was the name the girl had said after adjusting herself. It seemed familiar, but Muteki had some trouble placing it. Stepping over to the nearby chair, Muteki sat and took a big puff of his cigar. Pulling away the cigar and releasing the smoke in a long stream, Muteki thought back upon where he may have heard that name before. As a kage, you are taught the name of each other village leader, and the leaders that came before them….along with any other data, though usually there isn’t much else. It took him a moment but thinking back on the snow village kage line, it came to him.

“Wow. So you’re from Snow huh? Never been there myself, heard some things though. So, what are these documents you’re looking for? Actually, before you answer that. Let me just give you some information. I hate making you tell me everything for nothing in return.” he truly did. She was being very open with him, and he felt odd about not giving something in return. There was just something about this kid he liked. And if he kept to her good side, perhaps she could lend leverage to him with the Yukikage, whom he still needed to strike up a bargain with.

“My name’s Muteki. You may have heard of me….or maybe not…..I always forget how secretive I have been. Perhaps that is why I am less infamous then I believe I should be. Nonetheless, yes I have been to waterfall before. As a matter of fact I have been many places. By shear reasoning, I can only imagine you coming from yuki to waterfall for ‘documents’ for one of maybe three reasons. Possibility one, you’ve been sent on an errand of peace to get some sort of parcel that is to be delivered to your kage.” Stopping to take another long puff of his cigar, Muteki continued, “Possibility two, the documents you seek are really their village scrolls, and you’ve been sent to steal them…since they’re the only things worth stealing from them. Possibility three, you’re a missing ninja now, and are again trying to steal their scrolls, but instead of bringing them back to Yuki, you want to use them as a bargaining chip with another village. Am I close?”

Muteki was actually quite proud of his logic, and whether or not the girl was able to recognize his name didn’t bother him. Which ever reason she happened to say was the truth didn’t make any difference. It would be very hypocritical of him to say that it did, because at one point or another he had done each of these things. As long as it was one of the first two, she could still prove useful to Muteki, and his plans. If it happened to be the third, who was he to stop a missing ninja? That would be a terrible hypocrisy. Perhaps she would enlighten him and today could still become fruitful even without his indulgence in the forbidden fruit of the women he had been walking with earlier.

[Coal]

Indeed she was being unnaturally open with him, but it was not because she was just an open person, who would tell all the secrets in the world for a towel. No, she had an agenda to fulfill, and this guy Muteki would definitely help her do that. She needed those Waterfall scrolls to return home, this guy had gone to Takigakure no Sato, and she could sense that it probably was not a pleasure stroll. Her father had told her about Muteki, a former Kage of Amegakure no Sato, turned Nukenin for some reason or another. To her luck, he was going to give her some info too, now that she thought about it. This would be very useful.

“Number two.”

She held up her hand, displaying her index and middle finger, keeping her arm close to her body. So here they were, it looked like a set up of a partnership, at least until they got what they wanted from each other. However, she would have to bargain with him to get what she wanted, but what he wanted was unknown for the moment. There was only one way to find out, that was to ask. Here goes nothing.

“So…what would you like for your Waterfall scroll?”

[Kinz]

Continuing to puff on his cigar as the girl spoke a few short words, Muteki was taken aback. Muteki began to think, *what would I want for my waterfall scrolls? I have never even told anyone outside of Nyzu that I even had the scrolls that I happen to have. Well, this girl obviously doesn’t know I have them. Such blind assumption…though truthful. The usefulness of this girl better be worth what I intend to propose.*

Removing the cigar from his mouth once more and allowing his voice to jovially pierce the air, he released a short chuckle and began, “hahaha. You my dear are precious. I never said I possessed their scrolls. I merely stated I had been there and seen some things. Besides, whether I possess the ‘documents’ you seek or not is neither here nor there. What is truly important is what I receive as compensation for finding a way to provide you with said documents. So, the ball seems to be in your court, my new delegate to Yuki. You have the power in this situation to ‘make me an offer I can’t refuse’ as it were.”

Through most of this conversation, Muteki had been using his normal street style voice. It was one he learned in the bars he generally frequented, which was full of grammatical errors. Now it had changed. Growing up in a wealthy household full of dignitaries gave one quite the vocabulary. He generally hated speaking like this, but when business deals were concerned he didn’t mind breaking out the little nuances of his grammatical competence. The ball was in the girls court now.

[Coal]

Delegate to Yuki, huh? I think I see what he wants. At least my ploy got what he wanted out in the open. Kara began to tap her chin, rising from her seat, and only standing up to Muteki’s chest at the most. Craning her neck a bit to look him in the face, she smiled, because she was pretty sure she knew how to handle this situation. What he seemed to want was definitely something that she could give him, with only a small chat with ‘Uncle’ Axcel too, since he and her father were close in a sense. Finally putting the words together that she was going to say, something simple was best, she would have what she needed.

”I can take you to meet with the Yukikage, Yondaime Amekage."

She was serious for such a young girl, a cold seriousness, not unlike that of her father. When she spoke again, who is to say that the room did not become colder?

“However, I need to acquire the Waterfall scrolls first, and since you do not seem to be in possession of them, I would like to ask your help in acquiring them.”

Everything was out on the table now, the hands were dealt, and the cards had been played. Muteki may or may not possess the scrolls according to his statement, however he had successfully infiltrated Takigakure no Sato before, so he could help her accomplish the same in order to get the scrolls. She would not be able to return home unless she had those scrolls in hand, the very words of her father and the Yukikage. She would not fail, because if she did, she would become what she did not wish to be; a disappointment.

[Kinz]

The girl can as close to “face to face” as she could, and spoke the words Muteki had been waiting for. He looked down at the girl who was staring up at him and he smiled, extending his hand out as far as he could based on her position, he opened it to shake her hand. “I believe we have an accord then. Now, unless you have some suggestions, I have a pretty decent plan if I may.”

Once the girl took his hand, she would very likely feel the ‘skin’ shifting beneath her grasp. It would seem as if the hand was becoming smaller. In fact, his whole body would seem to become less massive in comparison to her. Eventually, the shifting would stop, and in Muteki’s place would be a perfect, near indistinguishable copy of her. HE was however wearing the same clothing as before, and being that he had on a shirtless, open vest, Muteki stared down amazed. “Wow, for such a young thing you’ve developed rather well.” Raising his hands to his new chesticles, he would begin playing with them a bit as he walked into the other room to find something more suitable to wear.

“So, I had an idea. I have a connection with the TakiKage. I will call him for a meeting. Once he comes, you and I will dispose of him, and I shall take his place, and infiltrate their kage tower to retrieve the scrolls. From what I’ve seen, their kage is one of the only ones in Taki with any semblance of skill, and there wasn’t much to speak of there when I saw him. So, we shall remove the one possible nuisance, and then achieve our goal. Does that sound agreeable?” Muteki returned, now wearing a fairly free flowing dress. Its green color still reflecting his own eye color. He stood there in the living room. It was an odd site. A little girl, in a dress smoking a cigar, with a devilish smile on her face….the essence of chaos.

Zerii Kamen (Jelly Mask)
Rank: B
Skill: Ninjutsu, (Passive)
Effect: The user is capable of forming their own body to their own liking.
Special: ---
Drawback: The process is extremely slow and takes five minutes to complete. Only one's appearance will be altered. Their strenght, at any aspect, will stay the same.
Description: The Hozuki are capable of reforming their body, changing it's shape and even colour -- if desired. By pumping chakra into their body, compressing and de-compressing certain parts, an Hozuki would be able to alter the way they look. This can not only be done by changing their facial structure, but their entire appearance -- including how tall, slim or muscular they appear. This alteration in body will stay the same unless the user changes it back.
Limit: Must belong to the Hozuki Bloodlimit.

[Coal]

Kara would indeed shake his hand, to seal the deal, and to ensure that he would not be breaking the bonds of their agreement. As a common practice amongst business practitioners, she knew that Muteki would hold true to the bond, and he would not—just what the hell was that?! His skin was moving as if it were full of worms! Now that was just sick. Now it felt smaller, much smaller than that large hand that had encompassed her own, which was also strange. This definitely was not Henge. Now there was something you did not see every day. Muteki had become…her, and shirtless as well.

“Wow, for such a young thing you’ve developed rather well.”

What the? He was playing with her…uh his…melons. What would you call that? Masturbation? Child molestation?

”Quit playing with them.”

Now that he was back, in a dress now, they could continue their plans. Wait…a dress? Would that make him a cross dresser? Wow, this was so confusing. No time to ponder that. So Muteki had a connection with the Takikage of Waterfail, did he? They would also set up an ambush to take out their only power? Good plan. Now to execute it, if they could. So long as Muteki stopped playing with himself, they should be good to go.

”Fine with me. Let’s get this party started ‘sis’.”

[Kinz]

“ok, said Muteki/kara clone. Now, here’s the plan…” Muteki would explain in detail the entirety of their plan (over pm cause I been boned before with public planning), when he finished he would continue, “Ok, so now that we’re clear on the method, lets get to the aftermath. Once we accomplish the deed, you will head for Snow village with them, and me in toe. We will stop in thunder if you’re ok with that, cause again….I have some business there. You may wait outside. Then, we’ll finish the journey to Snow. Ready? Ok, here is the location on your map. it’s a rather large ravine, that I hope will help us defeat the insect user.” once all the explanation was done, Muteki would head out, back for rain to retrieve some belongings. He would hopefully meet Kara at the location.

*sorry for crappiness, just really sick and unmotivated to post at the moment.*

[Coal]

"I see. Alright. I'll meet you in Taki no Kuni at the spot then."

Kara secured the map into her belongings, offering Muteki a smile before he left, a small one that showed she was pleased. She would follow shortly after, she had to get to Taki no Kuni, and time was of the essence. Once outside, they parted ways. Soon they would meet and soon she would have what she desired.

[exit]