Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

Inside the walls of the Silver Serpent, Kitsune could feel a warmth returning to her bones that had been gone for a long time. She had spent the last three months wandering the Village Hidden in the Snow in search of an amulet that probably did not cost as much as her client had paid her to retrieve it. The warmth of the sake as it wiggled down the walls of her esophagus was a welcome departure from that cold journey, even if the owner's prices were a little too stiff for her liking.

The bar was practically empty as Kitsune sipped her glass slowly (she had wandered in about fifteen minutes before closing), her long and slender fingers drummed the table of the bar proper in boredom. The burly figure who served her her drinks was a jovial fellow, a little over six feet tall with a warm smile that suggested that he welcomed good company. Kitsune threw down a twenty ryo bill, enough to cover two shots of the higher end stuff in the bar, and smiled, "Hey, you own this place, right? Have a drink with me, on me. It's been a while since I've had a chance to share a drink with a nice stranger."

Jori glanced up from the glass he was cleaning as the customer he had seemed intent on offering to share drinks. Jori was never one to turn down such an offer, as he found that some of the best moments of his life had come from sharing drinks and stories amongst strangers, who soon became friend. He smiled before shaking his hand. "Keep your money, it's on the house" he said before pouring two shots and sitting across from her.

"So what puts you in such a fine mood? I hope you don't mind me asking but most shinobi seem much less light-hearted then you are. What makes you so happy this fine day?"

Kitsune betrayed a mischievous smile, "I guess I am in a good mood, aren't I?" She grabbed her glass and lifted it up to invite a toast, "I guess it's just a good day to be alive. Hardly know if you'll wake up the next day in this profession, luckier still if you can do it with all your limbs. Let's toast to life." She dipped her glass before knocking down the shot. After a deep exhale, she pulled out a Black Merchant's cigarette (which had been banned in the Five Great Nations because of rumors that it was laced with opiates) and lit it with a small fire from her thumb, inhaling deeply as the smoke and its mysterious ingredients bubbled in her bloodstream.

She was even more relaxed with her second exhale, her eyes now a bit droopy as the Black Merchant did its work. "You know, I spent all my life chasing danger, chasing excitement, I never got to understand the importance of rest. In the country, there was nothing to do but tend cows and groom crops, I hated it, damn near drove me mad at times. Now that I'm a shinobi, all I want is to take a break, can you figure that? Funny how this world works..." Kitsune motioned to great diversity of drinks that Jori kept in his bar, "I'm impressed. How does a guy like you end up running a place like this?"

"I hear that" Jori offered before downing his own drink and savoring the flavor of his own drink. He set his glass down and quickly poured himself another drink. Profits had been pretty decent today, so he didn't need to worry about losing money over a few glasses. After all, what was the point of having your own bar if you couldn't drink your own product from time to time?

Jori glanced up as Kitsune asked her question. "What me? Simple, I just got here at the right time. Bought the place, and opened it to the public. No matter the time, people need a place to go and relax. Hence, why I do such good business. Everyone here is worried and stressed, but I got the stuff to help them relax" Jori said before offering Kitsune another glass. "What? I don't look like a business man to you?"

Kitsune chuckled, "Hardly. You're too down to earth to be the business type; most businessmen I've come across wouldn't fathom drinking their own product with a stranger, yet here we are." She took another drag from her cigarette, nodding in approval as she took in the warmth of the place, "Still... your being so down to earth might explain the success of this place. Doing a lot of good for the community that a higher bottom line would never achieve." She took the second glass and sipped from it more patiently this time; this was good conversation and she wanted to at least be able to string together cogent sentences. It wasn't everyday that you got to make a friend in her line of work...


As the two spoke, a teenager burst into the bar, his clothes tattered and strewn like a worn carpet. The hair on his forehead was matted with blood and it looked like his eyes could barely keep open. Battered though he was, it was clear that the teenager had money; around his neck hung the golden medallion of one of the Four Great Trading families of the village and his wrists glittered with jewelry usually found in the circuits of daimyos. Kitsune looked over her shoulder and grimaced -- no doubt, the little pipsqueak was looking for help that he couldn't ask his parents for. In any other context, she would have just looked away and let things be, but having just met the guy who owned this place, she didn't want to leave a terrible impression. In a moment, she flickered from her seat and caught the teen just as he began to fell. With all the skill of a kabuki actress, she called out to the bar owner with faux-concern, "Get some water, this kid is seriously hurt!"

"Any business man that can't drink his own product shouldn't be allowed to serve it at all" Jori responded as he looked down at his glass. "Especially when it comes to alcohol. People don't drink this because it's good for your health, they do it because they need it...or want it, whichever feels more important at the time" he added before finishing off his bottle and placing it aside. Before he could continue this conversation though, a young lad burst through the door to his bar, bringing in sweat, dirt and blood.

Well, now this was an interesting development. Had anyone else been around, Jori likely would have just observed to see what was going on. However, only the two of them were present in the bar now. "alright alright, lay him on the bar but try to avoid the glasses. Those are such a pain to get blood out of" he said before heading to the back room. A moment later he brought a pillow, some rags, and water before beginning to treat the wounds of the boy.

Kitsune pouted as she carried the boy to the bar; what should have been a restful evening had quickly turned into a whole ordeal. And she knew exactly how this sort of thing was going to play out. Still, custom demanded that she show at least a modicum of compassion while he was so vulnerable. The real burden wouldn't come until the kid came to. She snuffed out her cigarette in an ashtray and covered the boy with the blanket that Jori had brought out.

"Looks a mess, doesn't he?" The rugged kunoichi inspected the kid's face and clavicle with two fingers disinterestedly. Though he was unconscious, the wounds he had did not look serious. "Whoever did this to him didn't want him dead, just out of the way. No broken bones, just a bunch of cuts and scrapes. No doubt a noble... only those pansy asses could get knocked out from something as light as this." She lifted the medallion and inspected its odd shapes. At the center of the gold disc were three triangles that intersected each other at the midpoint with a gazing eye in the middle. The seal was easily recognizable as the Takeda family crest, one of the Ancient Four families responsible for most of the trade routes in the shinobi world. The Takedas specialized in produce and consumer goods and their seal could be found on the back of anything needed for everyday life. Kitsune tilted the seal towards Jori to see if he recognized it, "Looks like a bigshot, no?"

"Very big bigshot" Jori muttered as he looked at the small medallion. The man signed before rubbing his eyes. "I don't know who this guy is, but if he has any relations to the Takeda family, we're about to have a big problem" he began. "The Takeda family is the only large merchant route that's willing to trade with our village. Most stick away, due to fear of retaliation from other villages. Whatever happened to this boy, it doesn't bode well for our village"

Kitsune sucked her cheek and frowned, "You're right. Can't imagine they'd take too kindly to ol' golden boy here getting roughed up within the village limits. Let's see if we can get any info out of him. Oi, boy! Wake up." She poured a few drops of water from a nearby glass onto the boy's forehead disinterestedly before graduating to a few taps on his cheeks. With a bit of a start, the boy came to, his eyes wide in terror as he searched frantically around him.

"My sister! They have my sister!" Kitsune pressed the boy's chest with her palm until he was lying back flat on the bar. "Oi, easy there, kiddo. I don't know what happened, but you're safe for now. You're in the Silver Serpent. You came in a few minutes and just... collapsed right about's there," Kitsune pointed to the floor with her freshly lit cigarette, "Why don't you tell us what happened to you? Who's this sister you keep mentioning?"

The boy ignored Kitsune's questions as soon as he saw Jori standing beside him on the other end of the bar. "M-Mr. Tamashi-san... It's really you..." Kitsune growled impatiently at being ignored, but left it be; after all, she didn't want to get in the way now that they were finally getting some answers. "S-Sorry for bursting into your store like that, I just... didn't know where else to turn. I'm sure you don't remember me, but when I was l-little, my f-father used to bring me here with his delivery of alcohol a-and food for your bar. I remember some of the s-stories you'd tell about when you were a shinobi and..." The boy suddenly began to sob into his hands, "My sister... They took my older sister..."

Kitsune asked quickly, "Who did? What did they look like?"

"D-Dead... Like living corpses..."

Jori just glanced from the boy to Kitsune. The boy looked a little familiar, but Jori had several patrons that come and go. There was no way he could remember them all, especially since he often enjoyed drinking with his customers when the time allowed. That being said, Jori was smart enough to know that something like this wasn't going to go unpunished. The boy's father could withdraw support from the village, and that would cause some serious pain.

"Slow down boy. We need the basic information first. Were you attacked in the village or outside of it? Did they leave? Tell us what you can or else your sister won't get the help she needs"

"I-I don't remember much Mr. Tamashi-san... I was w-walking with my sister from the gala just a few blocks from here when something..." The boy gulped and took a few heavy breaths. The five second silence that followed was deafening for Kitsune, who had had it up to here with the boy and his stupid stuttering. Still, she knew better than to interrupt him then; boys like him had a tendency to knock out at the slightest disturbance.

"Something jumped out and dragged her into the alleyway. At first, I thought they were robbers, so I offered them my jewelry in exchange but," he let out a heavy exhale as he rested his forehead on his palm, "But they w-weren't interested. I stepped forward and that's when I saw it... Their flesh was mangled and rotted like a corpse's, and they smelled like... death. Sorry, do you have any water?" Kitsune nodded and pushed the glass that Jori had offered earlier closer to the boy's hand. She was serious now; if what the boy said was true, they were dealing with some serious stuff. Of course, there was no way that actual ninja zombies had kidnapped his sister -- real zombies would have just eaten the two of them. It was more likely a couple guys in costume. Still, for the sake of getting all the information they needed, she would indulge him.

"Listen... M-My father is in the middle of a big trade dispute with this village and he's looking for any excuse he can to cut off his trade and t-take his business elsewhere. We need to get m-my sister back before my father finds out what happened. He has a short temper and if this went public, he'd say and do things that would only get her hurt." He looked up at Jori and Kitsune with serious eyes and removed his medallion, "I want to hire you two to get her back. This medallion is worth a chuunin's yearly salary. Bring her back and its all yours. I-I know you're retired Mr. Tamashi-san b-but... there's no one else I can turn to for this."

Jori just listened in silence as he heard about the issues. It wasn't a good sign at all, the village needed every ally it could if they were going to survive. Jori let out a short breath before scratching the back of his head. "Keep your medallion kid, I'm retired from the shinobi business. You don't want to pay a run down shinobi like myself....you can hire me for free" Jori said before lifting his eyes up towards Kitsune. "You mentioned wanting a rest, but if this girl is killed this village won't have any rest for a long time...mind lending me a hand?"

Kitsune shrugged, "Eh, what the hell, why not? It's not like I've got anything better to do." The kunoichi patted her pouch just to double-check that she was well supplied. She nodded at Jori before turning to the kid, "Take us to the alleyway where you were taken from."

As the three of them walked down the cool, midnight streets, Kitsune extended a hand towards Jori, "I'm Kitsune, by the way. Never had a chance to introduce myself." She was beginning to really like the bartender guy; he had a mellow personality that reminded her of the folksy attitudes of people back home at Sparrow's Mill (and as an added bonus, he didn't ask her every three minutes when she planned to settle down, be a real woman and get married). She was a bit surprised that he used to be a shinobi though, despite his big build. Guess people weren't always what they seemed. "Mighty kind of you to offer the kid your help."

Jori shook the kunoichi's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, though I wish the circumstances weren't as strange" Jori admitted as they continued to walk. He allowed the boy to travel a bit ahead of the shinobi, allowing them some private space to talk without the fear of being overheard. "And I didn't offer my help, he asked for it first. I just turned down payment...because his father ships in a lot of my supplies I use in the bar. The kid doesn't have to pay me when his man is going to owe me a favor for saving his daughter" Jori said with a small chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of man to just ignore a call for help. Normally I'd get other shinobi out here, but at this hour and with the urgent nature of this matter, I can't just ignore this"

Kitsune let on a wry smile; this man had just earned her respect. "Well, I'll be damned. And just when I thought you couldn't get any more badass," she punched his shoulder playfully, "Very good thinking." She flicked her cigarette into a nearby gutter before running her hand through her hair. Two Black Merchant cigarettes were usually more than enough to temper her wild energies and get her to relax. Though the streets were a little hazy in her periphery, her mind felt sharp as a tack.

There weren't enough Black Merchant cigarettes in the world, though, to prepare her for what she saw when they turned the corner to see the alleyway where the Takeda boy's sister had been abducted. In the narrow alleyway lay the top-half of a mangled body, still writing and gasping for air as if it were alive. The entrails of the upper half of the body were splattered all over the alleyway, as if blown off by an explosive. What made the whole scene truly strange, though, was the fact that the body was in the center of a giant circumscribed triangle. The diagram, which was drawn in blood, continued from the floor to the walls (because of how narrow they were) and gave the whole scene an air of terror that only compounded upon the alleyways ghastly smell. The kunoichi coughed violently before turning to Jori and the Takeda kid, "Hey kid, you stay back. Tamashi and I will investigate... whatever the hell this is." When Jori had gotten closer out of earshot of the kid, she whispered, "Looks like the mark of Janshin that those religious nutjobs always go on about."

She approached the body in the center of the diagram cautiously and waited for Jori to catch up.

Jori watched in silence as he looked over the scene. He did not pack enough alcohol for a sight like this, blacking out after this was going to be a pain in the ass. For right now though they had a job to do. Jori agreed with Kitsune about holding the boy back as they moved forward to investigate. Jori just allowed his eyes to wander as he look the scene in. They could speculate all they wanted, but right now they had a witness...though for how long was a bit unclear.

Jori moved forward and knelt next to the body, looking the body over before turning back to the victim. "Who did this to you?" he asked, while also checking to see if this body was indeed Takeda's sister.