[Closed] Kitten and Mice

[Ace Trainer]

Approaching the ridge, the Taishou would stand at it's peak, looking down on the small shop that had been erected. It had been only a few weeks since he'd destroyed the other building, a scowl forming over his face at the thought. It had been an annoying process, and the fact that they had simply put up another shop and continued their nonsense left him annoyed. He had hoped his presence alone would have been discouraging enough, but it seemed this was not the case, which meant he'd have to take a different approach.

Truly he considered 'bombing' the building and everyone in side of it, killing them all in one fell swoop with the exception of whoever was strong enough to set off his sense previously. But, perhaps that would be unfair to the people who were more victims of circumstance than anything. Though, they were breaking the law none-the-less, death was not a sentence he carried out lightly, least of all not for something as petty as shopping in a black market. For now, it was late in the afternoon and he'd simply wait for a little and watch, staring down at the small shop with his arms crossed against his chest, waiting to get a sense of how much activity was there.

[Niro]

Yakshas entire interest in the country of Iron was due to its young leader. From what he had seen of the boy previously, he was hot headed. Temperental. It would, in Yakshas mind, make the boy easy to trick and control unlike previous country leaders he had approached and tangled with in the past. The first poison he had inflicted upon the body was annoying but nothing lethal. If anything, he hoped it would force the boy to seek his out for an antidote.

The shop itself wasn't very busy throughout the day. A few empty tables and chairs were placed near the front for shoppers to sit and relax. As the hours went by, foot travel to it slowed to almost nothing. To anyone with a keen eye, they'd eventually realize people were entering the shop but not exiting. The only person to do so was a tall, lanky man in a suit whose face was obscures by the brim of his dark hat. Rather than leave the premises, he had elected to place two cups of tea on a table before taking up one and them and fixing his gaze on the ridge containing the Taishou.

[Ace Trainer]

Shio made the observation of the strange traffic, but would think little of it given the already strange happenings of this vendor. He rotated his shoulder uncomfortably, a quiet 'crackling' type sound coming from his rotator cuff as he did. At some point, Shio had thrown a punch and made a slight tear in his rotator cuff, and his medic had informed him that - inspite of Shio's exemplary healing ability, the injury had ossified rather than healed. As it had turned out, he'd been poisoned in his previous excursion, and his medical team could not identify a cure or antidote, at least not with the original poison. Shio had returned to clear this problem, but it seemed he would need to get either the poison or an antidote from him as well.

When the man exited the shop and sat down, Shio took it as a clear invitation. He considered once more simply killing the man where he stood, dropping the full force of his strength on him. Shaking his head, he decided it was not worth it to do that, especially considering it meant he likely would not get the antidote he needed. Jumping into the air, the young Taishou would vanish and then appear several meters away from Yaksha, crossing his arms behind his back.

"I assume this is for me?", he asked.

[Niro]

Yaksha's amber eyes were keen enough to pick up on Shio as he peered from beneath his rice hat at the ridge overlooking the storefront. His bait had worked, it seemed. Between the initial poison and the pop up shops, Yaksha was sure he had hooked the young Taishous curiosity. At the very least, they boy would continue to chase after him until an andidote was found. The edges of his mouth curled into a thin smile as the figure disappeared before reappearing only a few meters away from him and across from the shop itself.

Shifting from his relaxed position in the chair to hunching forward, his eyes swept over Shios form from top to bottom. This new plaything was unlike any of the others before: Licht, Fusae, Kenji. They were just pawns on the board and overtime he had grown bored with them. Licht and Kenji had both died while Fusae was off living under an alias somewhere, displaced by the wars. But Shio? He had done what Henkou couldn't and taken a country for himself. A specimen truly worth following and manipulating for his own ends.

"Please, sit. Let us have a chat." Yakshas raspy voice called across the table, his wide smile and equally wide eyes fixated on the world leader.

[Ace Trainer]

Now closer to Yaksha, Shio's eyes thinned, his mind going back to his previous interaction with this group. Yaksha's face stood out to him, one of the people that had slipped out of the shop when he confronted them the first time. It seemed this man was the cautious, overly prepared type. For now, with his arms still behind his back, Shio would remain standing, staring at the man in silence for as long as he wanted before shaking his head. "Within the borders of Iron Country, you set up an illegal operation, and as a direct result of your actions, have left me with a rather unfortunate issue.", he rotated his shoulder again, the quiet crack from the quickly generated bone within his shoulder cuff seeming quite louder as they both knew what it was.

"So lets start there. I assume you have an antidote? Perhaps you want to provide that first."

Now that Shio had slightly more information, he was slightly relieved that he hadn't simply dropped himself like a bomb on the building and killed everyone. It was very likely the man before him had prepared for that possibility, and even more likely that if he did have the antidote on him it wasn't something Shio would easily be able to access. He likely did have the poison on him though, and perhaps they'd be able to reverse engineer from there.

"Then we can talk.", he would lock onto Yaksha's pink eyes from behind the lens of his glasses, ready for anything.

[Niro]

The seconds seemed to tick by for an eternity as the two shinobi stared each other down from across the way. Shio's stare seemed to crawl by at a snails pace and each moment the teen stared the pale pink-eyed man down, Yaksha returned the look. His face was contorted into a smile, barely hiding its sinister intentions, and his eyes were unblinking. Between his unnatural stillness and the paleness of his skin, it wouldn't be surprising for someone to mistake the missing ninja for a marble statue. The stare continued even as Shio spoke and tried to intimidate the older shinobi who suppressed the urge to giggle at the antics. The boy was just another on the long list of those who liked to throw their power around, it seemed. It was a shame that power was barely enough to do anything in the grand scheme of the world. Once the Taishou was done, Yaksha bent over in his chair and slowly slid the tea cup towards Shio once more.

"Why, our actions are to the benefit of our clientele, naturally. We heal those who can't make their way to the village for care, feed those who can't or sustain their own crops during tough times, and just give aid to those who need it but can't be helped by the village.

The antidote you seek is right in front of you. But, is something else as well? Will you take the chance to cure yourself while taking the risk of something else being mixed in with it?" Yaksha asked as a brunette waitress with a robotic smile and wide eyes made her way up to the table and began to ask about ordering food. Yaksha completely ignored the woman who continued to ramble on, as if she was just programmed to do so incessantly.

"Are you truly satisfied with what you have here? Is this meager country enough? Don't you want...more?"