The Bad, The Worse, And The Down-right Evil

[Taiga]

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Present day...

Clip clop, clop, clap, clip, clip-clap-clip-clop-clip-clap.

The thundering of hooves echoed through the canyon with immense fury as Rio leaned forward, her spurs digging slightly into the sides of her steed with an apologetic sorry plastered all over her face. Her right arm, bloodied and hastily wrapped in bandaging, held tightly onto a small hooded individual. She could taste iron in her mouth and her hair was drenched in sweat beneath her helmet. Shaking her head to try and stop the ringing her vision nearly blacked out as she leaned forward on the girl and horse as it picked it's pace up, only to come to moments later.

She'd just been struck in the head with a javelin, and while her helmet made of the purest Ryuuhagane had easily defended against the blow the kinetics and weight behind the javelin left her seeing stars. Shaking her head more she tried to stay awake, her left arm pulling tighter on the reigns of the horse. Behind her hootin' and hollerin' filled the canyon as the sound of hooves multiplied. For every clip there was four clops, and for every clap their was four clippity-clops.

A metalic ringing noise filled the air as a kunai bounced off her shoulder piece, denting it but failing to do any true damage. Rio groaned. She needed to get her head back on quickly, but found her eyes closing once more as she nodded off and leaned forward, the horse veering slightly to the side.

---

Twenty-four hours earlier

Despite it's name Tea Country had quite exceptional liquor... and despite being a raggedy sea shack of a bar the Predaceous Tit served a special nectar of the goddesses that made even the most stalwart mean spill his secrets. With the added patronage of some important people passing by the freshly minted Heart Empire, there was always a wealth of information for a young woman and leader of a bounty hunter guild to obtain. Guzzling down a cup of water, Rio pretended to be slightly drunk off of her "nihonshuu", having drunken only enough to taint her breath and enter the boys tables.

"And so I told him don't let these white duds and my pleasant demeanor fool ya, and you see, this fella didn't take to kindly to my pleasantry-" a samurai dressed in pure white said as he recanted a story to the others surrounding the bar. Before Rio could get to the end of the story someone tapped her on the shoulder and beckoned her to follow, and having flashed a sizeable amount of coin she was inclined to hear the fella out.

The flickering of candles weakly bathed the back alley of a bar in Tea Country in a warm light- light enough to see your hands but dark enough to not see much else. She couldn't make out much of the hooded man's face before her, and noted only the slimy voice of the would be employer.

I was asked to find someone to do a job in the Laughing Desert- a simple package retrieval. There may be some light resistance, but I'm sure you will find away to retrieve and deliver the package unharmed... was how the pitch started... and things ended with a total of 200 Ryo. Though the man who was asking her could only be described as slimy and possessing a voice of poisoned-honey, Rio was inclined to take a job so simple with a payout this sweet, and perhaps to naive to realize the folly that was "a simple job" with a grand payout.

"One thing though, sweetheart. You must deliver the package to the border of Tea Country and leave it be- no questions asked... and under no circumstances are you to damage the package in any way."

As weird as it was this was often how jobs like this went. It'd also be nice too, for a change, to not have to kill or beat someone down for a payout. With the finer bits of contract complete she would set out with her bounty puck and head for the desert, a lone hunter atop her trusty stead. Eventually, she would ride upon the dusty desert town lined by cactuses and sparse buildings where the package was said to be... unsure really of what was to come.

[Nick]

Why would things ever deign to be so simple?

The small town was full of the red clay buildings accented with oversized animal bones that were commonplace throughout the laughing desert of New Tea Country, and this town in particular was full of non-natives. Those who had originally inhabited shark country were mostly gone, and those that remained mostly lived within the capital of Xincha, and so abandoned homes above and belowground out here were filled with those who had moved in afterwards, patriots of Old Tea Country, and unbeknownst to the Iron Lady, a darker sect of Old Tea that sat deep enough in the shadows to remain unseen to the majority of its citizenry.

Most of the town's buildings would be underground with small sheds acting as entryways into the buildings, but a few would be largely aboveground as well, especially more public buildings such as the local general store, and as was appropriate, the local saloon. As she rode into town, people would look over at her with dead-eyed stares, wary glares, and some would simply get a look in before retreating to their lairs. The puck she'd been given was chakra reactive and attuned to chakra signatures of anyone of a specific bloodline, giving her a sense of where her package was, whether or not she had a sense of its nature as a living being was another question.

Her bounty puck would lead her to the far edge of the town, narrowing down her search significantly to a number of the aforementioned underground huts, a small, government run post office, or of course, the saloon, all located in a small block-sized area. Where would her hunter's intuition would take her?

---

Fukuzawa, Suzuko... Well, she was somewhere she didn't recognize. She was small, dark of hair and bright of eye, quiet, and unsure. Her mother had sent her to this strange land towards the end of the war, and she'd lived in a nice estate with a family friend who treated her well, but about a week ago, she'd woken up here, in this unfamiliar place. The people here had treated her well, if distantly, and this room she'd found herself in was somewhat comfortable, if a little too warm at times, but she didn't complain all that much. She'd ask questions to those that brought her meals, and they responded reverently that they did not know the answer, almost no matter what she asked. There were three that seemed to rotate between bringing her meals, and every time they would walk in, greet her as one might pray at a shrine, set her food down, and turn away from her, not looking at her as she ate, and only turning back around to grab her tray and walk back away.

She wished they were better conversationalists, but this was probably what her mom had wanted, right?

[Taiga]

Beneath her helmet, the young hunter looked quizzically upon the dusty streets of the laughing desert. It was probably the last place she would ever be... certainly only at the behest of a hunt. As she came to the end of the town she'd pull the reigns of her steed pausing to take in the surroundings.

Lots of awkward stares. Looking to her hand, outstretched, she held a puck.

The puck was glowing more than it had before- the target was close... there were lots of questions though about how she would know who the target was. Would the puck glow a different color? Would it be like a magnet? What was this magic puck anyways? Placing the puck away securely in her pouch she looked back to her surroundings. Mostly shacks, but two larger above-ground structures.

The oversized animal bones everywhere certainly add a... homely touch... she thought to herself as she continued closer towards the saloon. Between her lack of direction in these foreign lands and the pools of sweat she had produced beneath her armor, she was parched. Leaving her steed she would tie it to a near by post and make her way towards the saloon, tossing a coin to the boy outside. He'd run out a bucket of water to the horse.

As the hunter entered there saloon, she would be careful not to remove her helmet just yet. Taking in the room before her she'd nod to the keep and hold out some gold, signalling for something to drink with her other hand.

Silence tended to disarm people. Least more than the voice of a young woman did.

[Nick]

Man, who really understood how pucks worked? Certainly not whoever had invented them. They were probably some kind of dark forbidden magic that required the sacrifice of multiple children for a single-use person tracker. Or more likely it was honing in on a specific familial line, a certain someone's sons and daughters all would be likely to be shown up by it... But who knew, really?

The stable boy at least would be friendly, gracious for the ryo sent his way, even if the rest of the town seemed older, meaner, gruffer, as if it was a collated cast of people all picked for how they looked... And maybe for how they looked at her. The stare permeated deep as if trying to look into her soul, to view her deepest warrior spirit, but none of the men here were skilled enough to look past the strange armor that she wore, viewing her as a foreigner of some kind, potentially a threat... But at least her coin seemed to be good.

The man at the bar stopped pretending to be busy for a moment to snatch the money from her hand, biting down on it with a disgusting 'crack' noise, before turning to spit out a bad tooth that may have been bothering him for months, and filling her up a mug with some kind of thick sloshy swill that swirled slowly from a sticky spigot into a mug made out of some kind of... yellowed material. Gross.

He planted it down in front of her and it sloshed up to the rim, and threatened to spill over, but apparently was too thick to do so, and oozed back into the mug with a 'plop'. The bartender seemed happier now that the tooth bothering him was gone, but still probably didn't understand the concept of a smile. "What's got you about a place like this in armor like that, eh?"

[Taiga]

Rio could feel the stares of every last person in the bar like lasers burning through her armor. Ironically it did not protect her against the immensely uncomfortable air of the room. Worse, the moment she decided to speak any intimidation she had would fade.

Wiping her hand on her thighs she would nod at the glass of yellow sludge, skillfully offering it back to the bar keep before finally breaking the silence in a calm, but sharp voice.

”Have one on me.” she would say as her voice would betray any sense of mystery she had cultivated and revealed her to be nothing more than a teenage girl.


Rio would peer into the eyes of the bar keep with an extreme intensity. Her gaze was dejected, as if looking through his soul. None of it would be visible to him however. She nodded.

”Like all good folks here, just a simple lass trying to make her way in the world.” she said as she leaned back in the chair, her hand retrieving another coin as she spun it deftly between her fingers.

”Anyone new in town these days, besides well, me of course.” she said as she breathed in softly, her finger snapping as she flipped the coin from her left hand to her right, and closed her fingers making a fist around the coin.

She gently set her hand down on the table, but did not open her fist to relinquish the coin yet.

[Nick]

The older man's face softened as he heard her voice, and he didn't hesitate for even a moment to take her up on her offer, snatching the mug offered up, and holding it a foot above his waiting mouth where it slowly drooled down past his waiting lips. He made several gulping noises over the long seconds it took for the non-Newtonian fluid to worm its way into his gullet. Finally, he slammed the mug back down and let out a satisfied noise, before belching, actual bubbles of the stuff leaving his throat.

He listened to her and leaned on the counter, chin in his hand, eyes following that shiny coin she was spinning around... "Ehh, nobody so new as you, young'in..." the bartender said slowly, eyes trailing back and forth with absolutely no hidden intent or decorum in his actions. "I think some folks moved in rather unexpected like... Ehh, what sida town were they on again? I don't quite rightly remember..."

Of course, his eyes did look towards the door, and then if she followed his gaze she'd notice his eyes traced a path out behind the saloon, but he wasn't trying to tell her all that, he just also didn't know how to play poker to save his life.

[Taiga]

Some folks moved in, unexpectedly? Eh? She followed the mans eyes as the coin would start to slow it's spin as it stopped it's dance dead in Rio's palm, her fist closing around it firmly. Rio gracefully would place said fist on the table, nodding in thanks as she opened it. The man had earned his coin- and she knew how important it was to keep an information giver happy. Those were the bonds you were best to nurture.

She had gained all the information she had needed and quickly wanted to vacate the, truthfully, honestly gross surroundings she had found herself in. Whether intended or not the bartender had telegraphed what she needed to know and given her a lead. As she went throw the double-doors of the saloon and towards the path out behind the saloon she kept her eyes about the place. The puck had begun to glow with more intensity.

The bounty was definitely in this direction. Her hand at her holster she was, prepared to draw quick if needed.

[Nick]

The bartender stared at the coin as the armored girl made her way back out of the saloon, and then stared at her back. Had she shorted him the coin, he might have made his way back out the back entrance to warn people of her investigations... But with the coin planted in front of him, he looked suspiciously both ways, and poured himself another mug of the disgustingly gelatinous goop that could only be described by the 'slorp' sound it made.

As Rio walked around back behind the saloon, most of the town would look rather unimpressively the same as what she'd seen so far, except... A single building was all too obviously sticking out like a sore thumb, built using modern materials including the brass nails and bands of the Kisama clan, but its design was not the same as the western style buildings that had begun popping up over the Heart Empire, much more akin to a miniature version of the palace the Grand Shogun held court in, a traditionalists wet dream.

There were no guards out front of the building, but if she watched long enough she would likely see a man leaving and locking the door behind him to walk out back to a stable on the back side of the miniature palace, refilling hay for a couple of horses, before walking back around to the front of the door. The interior of the building would be richly constructed of fine materials, and the floorplan wouldn't be quite normal of a home someone would live in. The entrance would open way immediately into a storage/cooking area, and along the far wall would be a pair of doors, one on each end. The one on the western end of the building would be locked tight, several oversized padlocks keeping it shut, only to be opened for food to be delivered when necessary. The one on the eastern end of the building would be wide open, a bedroom clean and well taken care of, but obviously unlived in.

A handful of windows were high on the walls along the building as well, each high up but with ledges that could be grabbed with a bit of a hop or [acrobatic] intuition.

[Taiga]

There was not... much to see in the back, but the moment she looked up from her puck it was suddenly very clear to her for what she was searching. A new building unlike anything else in the area stood. Unlike most the buildings here, it was foreign in feeling and more similar to the palace of Heart Country than the desserts of tea. She paused for a moment. What kind of idiot would build such an obvious landmark of a building- and worse, how had she not noticed it earlier? Pushing that thought from her mind, she ducked behind a trash bin of the saloon as she heard movement. Peering from her helmet she could see someone leaving the building and locking one door.

Zero guards?

Some strange inkling began to develop inside of Rio. Was- was the client who hired her really on the right side of history, and would she by completing this job? Something was beginning to bother her. She could feel how light her coin purse was getting though, and the grumble of her stomach.

Don't ask questions. Don't check the package. Do the job.

She planted her eyes on the building, and some windows that would be easy enough to reach. In her armor and at her relative strength she wasn't really sure just how agile she was. Waiting for a clear coast behind the bins, she would pull two of her knives from her pocket and using wire tie them together in a way such that it formed makeshift grappling hook. Securing it to more wire, she would wait until the timing was right. Quickly approaching the building she would throw her makeshift grappling up, bouncing it off the ledge and lodging on the rails of the window while simultaneously digging it into the wall.

Giving it a tug to check it was secure, she would make quick work to scale the wall and gain entry through the window, then peruse the halls; unknowingly making her way towards the heavily padlocked room.

USEDShow

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

Bouncing Projectile
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
The practitioner aims a projectile at a shallow angle, targeting the ground or a hard surface. The shallow angle of the shot causes the projectile to bounce off of the surface, moving at -1 Speed and striking with -1 Strength after the bounce. This technique can be used to launch an attack from an unexpected angle or to shoot around, over, or under obstacles.

[Nick]

As she started to scale the wall up into the window, she would be able to hear voices from the back of the pseudo-palace, talking about how their charge was going to be moved with all the others soon, they only had to keep their cool and pay attention for a couple more days, while the other mentioned he was only one week from retirement.

The interior was quiet, but Rio's [perception] would tell her two things as she stopped in front of the padlocked door. There was a gentle rumbling from behind the door, and on the far side of the building in the room that was wide open, someone was rummaging around but just out of view. If Rio had any kind of lockpicking skills, the padlocks would be many and varied, but not especially difficult, otherwise brute force was always an option, but whoever was left in the building was likely to hear anything more than a creak of the floorboards, especially without any [stealth] techniques.

On the other side of the door would be a sparsely decorated bedroom, and laying in nearly the middle of the room would be a nicely wrapped package in some kind of blanket-like cloth, gently rumbling in slow smooth motions... The puck would go wild on seeing it, at least.

[Taiga]

As she made her way through the buildings carefully, Rio made note of the talking guards she heard- they clearly were not doing their jobs well. Finally, she approached a very heavily locked up door... stopping before it she could hear a gentle rumbling from behind it, but more importantly the puck was going crazy. Carefully she put it into her pouch, so as not to be a flashing light show... but now she was left with quite the predicament. Rio had no ability to lock-pick, and she certainly didn't have appropriate tools to cut locks.

If they didn't know she was here, they'd know soon. Still, trying to be as silent as possible, Rio would tack out her knives as she applied her full strength (18) to each lock, attempting to cut, snap, or gnarl the mechanism in each of them to open. Assuming she succeeded, she would bust into the bed room to find a blanked like package wiggling. She'd feel the puck start to buzz in her pouch, it's light almost shining through the pouch itself.

That's... the package?"

She'd scan the room for windows or anything that could be used for a much more hastily get away.

[Nick]

That was, indeed, the package. There were 'windows' in the sense that there was somewhere for the light to comb through, but really there was only enough room for the package if she wanted to shove it out the other side, even Rio's own lithe frame would be unable to fit through the window slit. That made the only way out through the window she came in from, the front door, also padlocked, or the window on the opposite side of the building from the one she'd come in from. The sounds of the locks shattering would definitely catch the attention of the one man remaining in the building, who looked up from the box of junk he was sorting through as soon as the first loud 'crack' could be heard.

By the time the third one resounded out, he was at the doorway to the room he'd been in, looking down the hallway just in time to see Rio entering the room to grab her package. "Hey!" He cried out, before sticking both of his pinkies into the corners of his mouth, letting out an ear-piercing whistle that could be heard by the other two outside, an alarm bell for her theft. Guard number one, named after his father, ran down the hall to try and box her into the room. If she moved fast enough, she would be able to get out into the hallway in time to run face first into him, at least giving her the option of running or taking him down, as he drew a long dagger from his belt and held it across his body in a defensive posture.

[Taiga]

Rio could feel the sinking panic setting in as she realized, within the room, there wasn't any sort of exit or window. She bit her lip beneath her helmet she grabbed the package, hoisting it up onto her shoulder... it was surprisingly heavy and felt like? There was no time to analyze the wiggling and writhing "package". Spinning round she would hear the whistle go off and realize that the only way out would be through the two men before her. Reaching for her belt she grabbed onto a smoke bomb and tossed into the hallway, making a mental note of the mens positions and locations within it as the narrow hall filled with thick smoke.

Grabbing dishes or whatever was available in the room, she would dash forward chucking it with her free hand, predicting the trajectory of where the men where and additionally using her skill in throwing things to bounce the projectile off the wall, such that even if she didn't know their exact location it would ricochet between the walls in a zig-zag at shoulder hit until it landed a blow.

Avoiding to use her knives was to avoid applying lethality just yet.

Fully armored, she would barrel her way down the hall, and should her projectiles not fell her opponents, she would shoulder drop into them hoping to knock them over and at least give her the time to make it to the end of the hall, back to the window, and out.

USEDShow

Anything Can Kill
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned deeply the aerodynamics of projectiles to a point where they can improvise or makeshift weapons from anything, be it rocks, broken tiles, a chopstick, or even a tube of toothpaste. They know how to throw it for maximum damage and impact. This means when using makeshift weapons there is no penalty and they are just as effective as if it was a real weapon in the practitioner's hand.

On The Move
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned how to accurately launch projectiles while moving through the flow of combat: whether jumping, rolling, airborne, sliding, or doing other basic combat movements at full speed, they are capable of hitting their mark.

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

Bouncing Projectile
D-Ranked Maneuver Taijutsu
The practitioner aims a projectile at a shallow angle, targeting the ground or a hard surface. The shallow angle of the shot causes the projectile to bounce off of the surface, moving at -1 Speed and striking with -1 Strength after the bounce. This technique can be used to launch an attack from an unexpected angle or to shoot around, over, or under obstacles.

Dual Wield
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner is ambidextrous- they can use both their hands with equal deftness, especially in the context of projectile weapons.

[Nick]

Through the smoke and confusion of shattering plates and other such nonsenses, the man before her could never really mount a proper attack. He got a single swipe in againsther, the tip of his knife scraping along her chestplate and leaving a scratch, but not enough of a direct hit to penetrate completely. Her assailant coughed and sputtered and was assaulted by a plate, a fork, a salt shaker, a prehistoric cave painting of man conquering mammoth, a treatice on a continent that nobody had visited before, and an old wooden sandal with a broken strap, and he was unable to keep up with her because of all of this.

She would successfully make it to the window, when a quiet voice would speak up from the package. "Where're we goin' now?" It asked curiously, not really complaining about the situation, as the package seemed somewhat content to do whatever was asked of it. Regardless, one man would slam open the front door in time to catch her in the act, the other not too far behind him as the man in the smoke shouted at his compatriots to chase after the armored man.

The man at the door would enter the building at a sprint to try and catch her before she got up and out, while the other would, smartly, decide to start circling around the building to get one of their horses, realizing that the man in the building was likely to be too late, jumping up and catching the windowsill while she safely made it out the other side, but soon Rio would have a chase on her hands.

[Taiga]

Rio had managed to make it past the man, though was feeling more than a little salty about her effort to improvise non-lethal damage to the man given that he had repaid her kindness with attempting to stab her in the chest. Had it not been for her timing, skill, and armor, he'd of probably taken out her heart. She made a mental note that she didn't need to pull her punches if they were going to use lethal means.

Konoyaro- I even used the rounded end of that wooden slipper to be nice.

As she prepared to make her way out the window, she would hear a voice come from the package. A curious, child's voice. Alarms were going off in her head and in truth far before the voice sounded she could tell from the way the "package" felt there was a small body in there. She would ignore the question and instead leap out the window, shielding the package as she deftly rolled onto the ground. She'd distribute most her weight, but still hit the ground with a hard enough thud to feel some soreness in her shoulder and knees.

As she came out of the role shakily, she would swing the "package" up hoisting the "package" over her left shoulder and securing it in place with her left hand, her right hand was at her holster as she dashed back towards the saloon for her horse. Her hand would be at the ready to whip knives at whoever got in her way as she made a mad dash for the horses. They'd need to get somewhere safe.

Then... then she'd begin to question exactly what was going on.

Just need to deliver the package and I'll get my coin.

USEDShow

Quick Draw
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned to a point of it being second nature how to flawlessly and quickly draw their weapons from their person, limited only by the boundaries of their full physical speed. Though seemingly irrelevant, this is often the difference in who shoots first. Secondary to this learned skill is also the ability to quickly re-holster or store weapons and draw different weapons.

Shoot From The Hip
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
Requires: Quick Draw
The practitioner has learned to transition straight from a draw into an attack- using the draw itself as part of the attack and momentum. They can do this at full power, with a slight edge even, and with full accuracy.

[Nick]

Suzuko took the silence in stride, after all, it had been how she'd been being treated by the men who had been watching over her for the last week or so. The yelling of the men behind her as she was taken away was slightly worrying, but the men often yelled at each other in the other room, making this not all that unusual, even if she was being jostled a fair bit more than her usual. Her face was covered as well, still, meaning that she couldn't see what was going on to realize more about the situation all the same.

Rio would be able to make it to the stable she'd left her horse at, though the yelling and throwing of objects would start to rouse the town a bit more, a few people stepping out from their hovels to see what all the shouting was about while she would approach the stable. Her kind treatment and tip towards the stable boy earlier would mean that he'd have her horse up and ready, watered and in good spirits by the time she'd arrived, tied right up out front for ease of access. He waved pleasantly, before his face turned to more of a worried expression as he saw men behind her. One would be more or less taken out by her earlier assault, but the other two would be coming after her.

They were staggered, the one who'd gone straight for their horses being right on her tail, a sheath full of javelins strapped to the side of his horse, whilst the other would be kicking up dust in the distance running towards her, a single curved blade held high above his head. The one with the javelins would reach down to pull one out of its sheath, throwing it straight towards Rio. The man behind shouted out loudly. "Don't hit the child!" He called desperately, realizing the danger of a man throwing projectiles at their charge.

[Taiga]

Rio had just finished getting the horse ready with a nod to the boy in thanks as she motioned for him to go inside. Hastily placing the package onto the back of the horse, before she could leap up she heard screaming and a mightily galloping behind her, turning back she her eyes would be filled with shock as she saw a man draw a javelin and toss it her way. She didn't have much time to react, but with her quick draw and shoot from the hip prowess she would unleash a throwing knife from each holster and whip it for the javelin, carefully timing it's trajectory such that her two knives would hit it.

Whether her attack would be strong enough to save her she didn't know, but she would hope it altered the javelins trajectory as she turned to leap onto her horse, digging her spur gently into it's back and giving a loud yip to send it off as she turned back to secure the package and hoist it onto her lap.

It was going to be too hard, and given the screams, it was definitely clear to her this was a child. Her conscious weighing heavy, she couldn't just ignore her package anymore. She'd draw a knife and slit the cloth gently and tear, hopefully freeing the girl enough she could get herself free as Rio shielded the girl with her own body.

They'd need to make it to the canyon, hopefully she could lose their chasers there.

"Hold tight and don't do anything stupid." she would say to the child as they would hopefully emerge out the cloth.

USEDShow

Quick Draw
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned to a point of it being second nature how to flawlessly and quickly draw their weapons from their person, limited only by the boundaries of their full physical speed. Though seemingly irrelevant, this is often the difference in who shoots first. Secondary to this learned skill is also the ability to quickly re-holster or store weapons and draw different weapons.

Shoot From The Hip
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
Requires: Quick Draw
The practitioner has learned to transition straight from a draw into an attack- using the draw itself as part of the attack and momentum. They can do this at full power, with a slight edge even, and with full accuracy.

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.

Situational Awareness
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has keen senses and perception and has trained to use them to have advanced spatial sense. This allows them to envision complex happenings around them with ease: this means it is hard to surprise attack the practitioner as they are always aware of their position and their surroundings. Likewise, they have a greatly sharpened ability to judge the speed of things, and the spatial aspect of them.

[Nick]

As she leapt up onto her horse and spoke to her package, a loud 'CLANG' would resound as she was struck in the helmet by the javelin she'd redirected from her center mass. Luckily, her helmet was nigh indestructible to common folk, even if it would ring her bell good, leading us to...

---

Present Day

Clip clop, clop, clap, clip, clip-clap-clip-clop-clip-clap.

The man with the javelins was gaining on her, the advantage of acceleration on his side as Rio took off on her horse. On the bright side, he was no longer throwing javelins, taking his partners advice about not hitting the package for now. The second man was gaining as well, but still was a decent ways off, and it wouldn't be long before she would at least match their speed, staying a safe-ish distance from the men. "Am not stupid... You're stupid!" The little girl complained, her young face peeking out from the folds of the blankets finally, bright green eyes and rounded face turned in a pout, still not understanding the seriousness of the situation. She couldn't have been older than five at the most, a toddler who was probably only just starting to form complete sentences.

The canyon was the smartest move, as just near the canyon were one of the bone forests that littered the laughing desert, skeletons of ginormous sea creatures long dead poking up from the sands where an ocean once was. It would be easier to lose someone in the twists and turns of the grim reminders, and it would also get her closer to her goal of the specified spot on the border of Tea Country.

With the child properly protected in front of her, that left her back fair game as the men whooped and hollared, throwing a kunai that would swiftly impact her shoulder, knocking loose one of her unmarked pauldrons. The men dug their spurs in and were quickly gaining on her, she'd have to make some kind of move if she wanted to make it to safety.

[Taiga]

"Am not stupid.. You're stupid!"

Rio didn't have time to clear up the misunderstanding and seethe the child's whining. Starting to shake off the stars left by the javelin that had managed to ring her bell, Rio pulled hard on the reins of the horse. The men were gaining on her. Rio had so many questions as to why she was picking up a toddle to what the hell did her client intend to do with her? She wouldn't have too much time to stop and think on this for now though since the men were getting hot on her trail. She pushed harder for the canyon, heading straight for the ginormous skeleton of a large sea creature.

Her eyes narrowed in her helmet- there was seemingly a smaller little skeleton inside of what would be the belly of the large skeleton.

There's always a bigger fish...

Pulling further forward for the skeleton aiming to shake the men, a kunai would impact her pauldron knocking it loose. She'd his in pain as she would reach for a flash tag and a bomb, suddenly pull up on the reins, dropping the horse into a stand as it went up on it's hind legs and kicked the air, taking up a position behind a massive bone, her vision of the men now gone. She would throw the bomb out to the right side, and the flash tag out to the left as she deftly drew knives to throw them at the men, using the cover of the bone and her sudden stopping to hopefully cause the men to overshoot the bone and go past her.

If the flash tag or bomb didn't do the work, she'd hope her knives did.

USEDShow

Quick Draw
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned to a point of it being second nature how to flawlessly and quickly draw their weapons from their person, limited only by the boundaries of their full physical speed. Though seemingly irrelevant, this is often the difference in who shoots first. Secondary to this learned skill is also the ability to quickly re-holster or store weapons and draw different weapons.

Trajectory Predicition
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
After much practice, the practitioner has learned how to read an opponent's movements to gauge where they will be at any given moment without penalty. Effectively, the practitioner can "lead" their shots to account for movement by targets.


Dual Wield
D-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner is ambidextrous- they can use both their hands with equal deftness, especially in the context of projectile weapons.

On The Move
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has learned how to accurately launch projectiles while moving through the flow of combat: whether jumping, rolling, airborne, sliding, or doing other basic combat movements at full speed, they are capable of hitting their mark.

Multi-Draw
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has trained such a deftness to their draws that they are now capable of drawing multiple projectiles and more impressively, launching them in a tight spread, capable of putting multiple projectiles into a small bullseye at the same instance.

Situational Awareness
C-Ranked Discipline Taijutsu
The practitioner has keen senses and perception and has trained to use them to have advanced spatial sense. This allows them to envision complex happenings around them with ease: this means it is hard to surprise attack the practitioner as they are always aware of their position and their surroundings. Likewise, they have a greatly sharpened ability to judge the speed of things, and the spatial aspect of them.

[Nick]

The bone forest was, as one might imagine, full of bones, and indeed a smaller fish inside of a larger fish was no uncommon sight, with just beneath the sands being an even larger skeleton that before they'd all been killed in some cataclysmic event generations ago was also about to reach up and bite down on the middle fish. There might have even been another one step down, or two, or three...

The little girl giggled as the horse reared up, the change in velocity giving that funny gut feeling one gets when falling, but secure in the arms of another turned what may have been a terrifying experience into a fun little adventure. Her plan would be quite effective, as while the men wielded weapons and may have been somewhat well-trained fighters, not many understood the intricacies of horse-to-horse combat and the men flew past only to be impacted by the flash first, causing their horses to panic and rear up as hers had, before being knocked to the side with the bomb she'd thrown. With their horses not under their control, her knives would find their mark relatively easily. Neither man was likely dead from the encounter, but thrown from their horses and with a knife sticking out of them, neither was likely to be able to do much chasing.

Rio could kill the men who had been guardian to the little girl whom she was kidnapping, or she could ride off and hope that they wouldn't remember her helmet, but either way, she wouldn't have too much time to ride before the agreed upon meeting point, and the little girl in her care seemed to be somewhat enjoying herself, and would likely never forget the experience of action-riding on a horse.

---

Goro would be waiting, dressed in a desert robe similar to what Rio wore, in addition to a wooden goblin mask covering his face, though a single hole had been carved in the mouth to make room for the cigarrette that hung lazily from his mouth. A weak attempt at anonymity, and he hoped that neither the hunter nor the little girl would catch look at his face. This was a one time deal, after all, and he hoped to never see either of them again after this.

[Taiga]

Clear of her tails, Rio would breath a sight of relief as she calmed her horse, it dropping from it's hinds back onto tall four. Holding onto the girl tightly, her head slowly returned to normal as her adrenaline returned to it's near normal levels. With nothing more to cover it up, the gut feelings that she had been hired to kidnap a child came rushing forward... and the questions came to a forefront. She bit her lip between the helmet as she tugged on the reins and gently dug her spurs to the horse, with a "yip", the horse going into a trod off towards the direction of the meeting point.

Rio wouldn't push the horse to full speed at this point. She'd left the injured tails in the dust and they wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Clearing her throat she spoke out to the girl.

"Why were you in that room? Who were those people?" she said, unsure if a small toddler would really be able to provide much information. If she didn't try though she would never forgive her conscience.

[Nick]

Suzuko stared up at her most recent kidnapper and blinked, bringing a hand up to her chin cutely as she thought. What had really happened was that her mother, just bare months ago, had sent her to Tea Country to live with an old family friend, knowing well that her country was not long for this world, and that Tea was unlikely to do anything stupid during the war... For her daughter's safety. She had never made it to the Mizutane family though, as the small palanquin she'd been being escorted on was attacked, and her carriers ran off for their own safety.

The men who had attacked the caravan did so knowing the package they carried was one of the most valuable things in the world at that time, someone who carried blood of the "Grand Shogun" who had been tearing through battlefield after battlefield and claimed to do so in the name of peace. Regardless of his actual intentions, his demon-like power was feared and respected by all, and that gave a certain organization the idea that they might be able to raise some of his kids to do as they pleased with power enough to rule the world...

From Suzuko's perspective, though: "Them's was the friendly guys takin' care of me!" She proclaimed with a bit of a pout, not understanding that her old kidnappers had been in a fight with her newest one. "They didn't talk hardly though... I miss my mom, they wouldn't let me see her, do you know where mom is?" She asked, looking more curious than sad. "Ma' said I couldn't stay at home, but that she'd find me again soon..."

[Taiga]

Rio watched the girl deep in thought. Something didn't add up. She believed the guys to be friendly- but she was physically locked up in a room. Friendly folks did not take children and put them in a room, locked with multiple padlocks from the outside. On the other hand whoever hired her was also basically asking her to kidnap a child too... and without her really knowing the circumstances of who or where the child really was supposed to go things were beyond dubious. Rio cleared her throat then asked pointedly,

"I don't know where your mother is; did she at all say where you were going when she said you couldn't stay home?" Rio said, coughing slightly and trying to sweeten her voice as she realized how strict she had sounded. Coughing a little more she upped the pitch of her voice before saying to her:

"Any names, places you were supposed to be going?"

[Nick]

Suzuko blinked up at her latest captor, and brought a finger to her chin in thought as she was interrogated ruthlessly. A bit of her chakra started to leech off of her and onto Rio, though if the small girl noticed she made no show of it. "Mmm, she said I was gonna be stayin' with a friend of hers in Tea!" She smiled proudly at being able to remember what her mother told her. "Some kinda... water name..." Suzuko said, her face scrunching up in concentration as she tried to make sense of her memories.

"Miss... Tame?" She said in an unsure fashion. "That's not right... Did I fail the test?" The little girl asked with a pout. "Please don't tell mama if I did! ...Where are we goin' now?"

[Taiga]

"Miss Tame"?

Rio's mind rapidly darted across all the Kanji and words she was forced to study by her father as a girl. She'd never been much of a scholar but it had been her fathers last gambit to save her from a life like his- that of a bounty hunter. His gambit hadn't worked, but at least what he had taught her would be useful. Rio looked ahead as the horse slowed it's speed at her command, giving them time to think and the likes.

Missu Tame? There was no way someone in this content let alone Tea had a name like that. Unless they were Miss Tame, with Tame being the surname? Then again kids always had trouble pronouncing stuff. Perhaps "Miss" was "Mizu", the kanji for water, and Tame was meant to be "Tane" or "Tani"... seed or valley. Mizutane or Mizutani wouldn't be too unlikely a name. Posturing the thought Rio gently patted the girl on the head and said,

"Good job- it's Mizutane, right?"

She had no clue who the Mizutane family was. But at least it was something. She'd proceed to the meeting spot but ever so carefully, the girl in toe.

[Nick]

Suzuko nodded emphatically, also trying to further piece together the puzzle she'd been given. She was a smart girl, but ultimately she was still very small, and no matter how bright one was for their age, they were still developing mentally and their brains did not work the same way. Her brain was similarly doing mass calculations and looking over everything, however, the final output was a rearranging of kanji until it somehow read... Butterfly. Not very helpful. Thankfully Rio was quite intelligent and mostly fully mentally developed. Truly a modern marvel.

"Mizutane!" Suzuko exclaimed in agreement. "Auntie Mizutane!" She nodded in affirmation. "I haven't met her, but momma said she's my... my god... godma?" She said, putting a finger to her chin in thought for a moment, but seeming to immediately forget she was worried about it. "Are we gonna go meet Auntie Mizutane?" She asked with a bright grin on her tiny face.

---

Goro took a long drag from his cigarette. He'd wished he'd picked a better meeting place. Maybe a bar or something. That way he could at least sip on fine whisky while he waited for his bounty hunter to arrive. The scarecrow narrowed his eyes under that goblin mask of his, looking out onto the laughing desert right at the border where things were starting to transition into arable land. A lone rider was approaching. He took another drag of his death stick, finishing it off before throwing it to the ground, crushing it under his heel, before replacing it with an unlit one, standing up straighter and stretching out his back a bit. Hopefully the handoff would be simple.

[Taiga]

Rio would approach with the girl in front of her on saddle. As she came closer, she would stop some distance from Goro, her hand at her holster ready to draw if need be. As she looked upon the Goblin masked man she took a deep breath before speaking up. Moving her hand from such that the reigns would be wrapped about her wrist with some control still, she placed her free hand around the girl.

"What is your name, and what is this child to you?"

His answer had to be damn good- because she was getting all sorts of vibes about handing off a child to a low-life who hired a bounty hunter to take a child and wore a goblin mask.

"What was the place where she was kept, and why did you need a bounty hunter to do the job?"

Truth be told, she didn't really know all that well how to do the questioning part of her job.

[Nick]

He stood in a neutral posture as the girl approached on her horse, staring at the girl wrapped in shredded blanket for a moment, who stared back at him wordlessly, before looking up to the bounty hunter. Under the mask he quirked a brow, and his cigarette bounced up and down a bit. "You know, bounty hunters are paid not to ask questions." He stated simply, reaching underneath his cloak to grab his lighter, slowly and calmly pulling it from underneath to light his cigarette, taking a single drag.

"My anonymity is necessary to protect the child." He stated simply, blowing out a huge cloud of smoke from the corner of his mouth without touching the death stick. "She was being held by..." He thought for a moment. Truthfully, he didn't owe her any answers, and he could take the child from the bounty hunter by force if he needed, but... It didn't feel necessary, quite yet. "A cult." He said, noncommittally. "I needed a bounty hunter who wasn't attached to my name to free her. It is... A favor to an old friend. She'll be going to where she's supposed to be, dropped off in one piece." Another drag of the cigarette. "That's all you're getting. I should ask them to dock your pay, you know."

[Taiga]

Rio furrowed her brow as the man made a cold comment about not asking questions- it wasn't that his tone was cold but rather the simplicity and "matter of fact" delivery that put her on edge. Gazing intently on him she awaited another answer only for the man to reach into his vest calmly, retrieving something. Rio twitched her hand slightly at the holster, ready to draw a knife at a moments notice and put it between his eyes if she needed to.

She was jumpy.

As the man calmly finished his action she saw it was nothing more than a lighter but still chose not to relax her hand.

What was she supposed to do or think here? The man seemed like a slime bag but his cool, calm, and collected presence told a different story. Crooks and bad men generally used force. Those found out or resisted generally lashed out. He was too calm. As Rio struggled in her naivety of the world to formulate a strong opinion she watched and listened to the man speak. It made sense, but still. She nodded and removed her hand from her holster but still made no move to hand over the girl. A cult... checked out. But she would of liked one more piece of information to seal the deal.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"You hired me to keep the asset safe- let's just say I am going above and beyond... Hell, how do I even know that you're you? We live in a world where them shinobi folk can look like anyone they want." she paused to see whether the logic would stick- hopefully it would. It wouldn't be all too hard for the cult to have a shinobi on the other end who mimicked the man who hired her.

"Tell me where she was going and who sent her there; if the stories match up I'll consider the job done and the girl delivered to the right guy."

If he mentioned "mother" and "Mizutane", she'd feel pretty comfortable relinquishing the girl for now and would finish the job and be on her way.

[Nick]

"Hohoh, angling for a bonus after I threatened to dock your pay?" He smiled underneath that mask, even laughing a bit. "You've got style, kid. Careful, that'll get you killed, some day." He took a long drag from his cigarette and held it in, before bringing his hand up to his face to hold it while he blew smoke out of the tiny hole made available for him. "The child's anonymity is even more important than my own." He stated simply, casually starting to approach the horse now.

"She was on her way to house Mizutane, for safety from the war... Unfortunately, her mother didn't realize that house Mizutane is about to become just about as unsafe as the Holy City of Towers was."

"Towers!" Came the voice of the little girl all wrapped up.

"But, the Mizutane are no pushovers, she'll have some degree of protection..." He said thoughtfully, holding his arms up to accept the child. "You wouldn't happen to have contract space to continue looking after her, would you? A bounty hunter that asks too many questions is an asset for some."

[Taiga]

Rio was left with some new questions as the man went on, though she had seemingly confirmed enough to trust him and believe he had no ill intent.

What was going on in Tea Country? Why was house Mizutane about to be as bad as the City of Holy Towers? Deciding this was not the time to ask anything more, and having confirmed what she wanted, as the little girl spoke up, Rio patted her on the head once before giving a solemn nod to the masked man and handing the child over.

"Aye- I'm open to something more long-term and wouldn't mind taking care of the poor kid. Someone oughta- you know she thought the cult were the Mizutane?" she said with a soft chuckle. Rio had never expected this simple job to go the way it had, nor had she expected her fate would cross paths and become interjoined with a truly special girl.

[Nick]

He took the child carefully in his arms, a little awkwardly at first but slowly adjusting to what was probably a somewhat comfortable and secure grip for the both of them. "Something tells me there's gonna be a lot of people taking care of this dumb kid." He said with a chuckle. "She might not be all wrong, they're awfully indented in places you might not think to look..." The goblin-masked man said somberly, knowing all-too-well, as a member of the cult himself.

"The next time I need something, you'll have a job from the same contact. Don't get killed in the meantime, kid." And with that, Goro turned around and started to walk away, holding the child in one arm, and holding the other arm up to wave goodbye. With his back turned, Suzuko giggled and reached up, grabbing the huge nose on the goblin mask and pulling the whole thing down, catching a glimpse of his face from a young age, that hopefully she'd forget by the time she was older.