Midnight Miscreants

[Kanade]

Spirit invasion mission detailsShow

Mission 4: (limit 1): The spirit of a small boy has been showing up at midnight at the crossways and has been leading people into dangerous situations such as falling down open manholes, try to assuage this spirit.

Atsuko showed up at the crossroads that was the center of all of the talk the past couple of days. She scanned the street, seeing nothing and no one with her beast eye that was out of the ordinary as of yet, she glimpsed a couple of ryo-skirts, as her mother called them, walking the streets for money. They didn't care if it is wrong or if it is right. Apparently they made better money than most folks, as they dressed in finer clothes than most people around these parts. Atsuko had basically no clue what they actually did, but her mother said that she would be damned if her daughter made a single ryo on her back in a fight once.

Atsuko decided that it was a good enough time as any to unroll the scroll and take another look at the location she was in. She looked at the crossroads, Iron Road and Copper Street. So far this whole spirit business was less exciting than the past two walks she had taken, in broad daylight, with more people in the streets. Still, if she could glimpse this spirit, maybe, just maybe, her and her supposed companion could find a way to assuage it. Either that or she could just drop the spirit down a manhole like it had been doing to people and call it a day.

She started to pick under her nails with her kunai, getting the forge-dirt out from underneath them. Her green eyes shone eerily in the dim light of the lanterns in the street.

[Zao]

Light footsteps carried a thin looking youth down the nighttime streets, his body clad in clothing that made it difficult to see what his body looked like, even going as far as to pull a hood up over his head and wear a half face mask in order to leave his true appearance to the guesses of those he passed. Yet, on a late night such as this one there were truly very few out, at least with the exception of those 'working women' that he passed here and there, but they were reserved enough not to call out to the kid like they might have done if he had looked to be a bit older than his mid teen years. With both of his gloved hands tucked away into the pockets of his trousers the only two things that stood out were one, the displayed headband of Iwa that he was so proud of that was tied loosely around his neck and second was something a bit more subtle. When Ning would lift his head and scan the streets ahead of him the dim lights from the lamp posts would catch the eye just right to give off that almost cat-like eye shine that stemmed from the artificial eyes of his prosthetic body.

'This should be close...' Ning was in his own thoughts, having only recently enough recovered to the point that he had been cleared for full duty but even still he was still getting use to this new form that was him, everything still felt foreign, and his sense of touch was still a bit off, as well. But he couldn't wait to return to his duties as a shinobi, even as just a genin, despite his devastating set back he still had big dreams to become someone great within the village. Though he was supposed to meet up with another fellow shinobi, of his level, in order to investigate a rather mischievous spirit. To say that he might be hunting a ghost was something that he wouldn't have thought he'd be saying, but here he was looking for one. Just at that moment he lifted his faintly red tinted eyes from the ground spotting a girl who was already at the crossroads that these sighting was reported.

'Is that my companion?' He hadn't met the person prior but what other reasonable reason would another genin have to be out here during this hour of the night except for being on the same mission as himself. At least that was the most likely thing, so he hoped anyways. Removing his right hand from its pocket, the boy lifted it up in a friendly wave-like gesture towards Atsuko, before politely introducing himself briefly by name. "Hello, I'm Ning."

[Kanade]

Atsuko raised her head, her horns catching the lantern light and her softly glowing green eyes taking in the boy in front of her. Catching the less-than human eyes and the fact that he didn't glow at the center like her mother did with any sort of brilliant light meant that he was either human with strange eyes, or that he was something completely new entirely. She hadn't ever encountered anyone with a puppet body before. She stiffly bowed at the hip, military style, not knowing whether or not he was supposed to be leading the mission or she was.

"Pleasure Ning, I am Enkouten, Atsuko, genin." She gave her title to see whether or not he would answer with his own. A small friendly smile flitted across her placid features before they settled into the already dour expression she kept most of the time. She reached up and rubbed the left horn on her forehead, a nervous tick that she had since she was a baby.

"I suppose this is the spot, since we both found our way here. Though, I don't see what's so special about this place." She looked about and it looked conspicuously like any other above-ground street of Iwagakure. "You know, the first time that I saw a ghost it was in a burnt out old home of someone who had lit their kitchen on fire. There isn't anything that suggests there should even 'be' a spirit here." She looked around, "No vessels that I can see, or anything like that." Her green oddly shaped irises turned back to Ning and she shrugged, "If you wanna take the lead I'll help how I can but I am at a loss to what we do besides sit around and wait for this ghost-kid to show up."

[Zao]

The youth's horns were definitely a bit eye catching as he closed the distance between the other genin and himself, making note of it but despite his desire to ask about them he knew what it felt like to be self conscious of one's body, whether she was or not he wouldn't know, but because of his own artifical body he kept a tight lip on the subject. Perhaps if he got to know the fellow genin more then it could be the subject of another conversation. "Ji Ning, a fellow genin." His gloved hands revealed themself finally as they came together in a form of a martial salute to the shinobi. His redish eyes glance up slight, unconsciously, as the girl rubbed one of her horns before he caught himself and brought his vision back onto her face.

"It does rather ordinary." Ning couldn't help but echo her sentiment, it felt and looks just like any other crossing of streets. But this was the spot for sure if both of them had individually arrived based on the mission instructions. At the mention of her having actually seen a ghost prior to this his eyes widened slight, as he personally hadn't. The boy was about to interject before she mentioned being unable to see any vessels or the like. "You can see that kind of thing?"

Ning's knowledge of the spirit world and related things was truly lacking, but he was a genin and had barely any experience in the rank due to his issues before that led to the status of his body today. "It might be better if you do, Atsuko. I've never even seen a spirit yet, let alone a ghost. He shook his head, it seemed only befitting his comrade that had some knowledge of what they could potentially be dealing with to take the reins for this mission. "Do you really thing this supposed ghost-kid will show up?" A mix of interest with a tinge of fear hid within his reply.

[Kanade]

Atsuko nodded and smiled, "I can see that sort of thing. Though, you're um-" She didn't want to call attention to the obvious but it was rather hard. "You know, we should probably get this out of the way, yes I have horns and weird eyes." She looked pointedly at him, "And you're probably not entirely human. That's alright my mother isn't as well." She didn't have tact, nor the time to have tact. "I should know what it is you are, and all that, before we're put into a dangerous situation."

What Atsuko didn't know, however, was that the time that she stood talking was used by the ghost boy to make his first appearance. Materializing slowly, he hovered, peering over her shoulder at Ning making all sorts of weird faces, each more terrifying and less human than the last.

Atsuko pointed to herself, "I know that I am not, well, apparently entirely human. So I should warn you about that I suppose. My mother doesn't really know who my father was, but said that there must have been something residual about the spirit attack that she had right before giving birth to me to give me these." She pointed to the horns on her head. The ghost boy grew horns and fangs and put up his hands waggling his tongue with his mouth open as she talked. Atsuko frowned and cradled her chin in her thumb and forefinger, "So I don't really know what I am." She paused for a moment, as did the ghost boy. Atsuko shrugged, "but at least I know that I don't know what I am."

[Zao]

Ning couldn't help but smile under his mask, it wasn't often that you met such a straightforward person as the young girl before him, and for once it was a change of pace that the youth himself appreciated as he gave a nod to her mention of the obvious things such as her unique eyes or the tiny horns that grew from her head. Even making mention that her mother was not entirely human as he made mention about himself. It seemed that she was easily able to see through the false pretenses that he put up to conceal the real him. With a nod of his head the boy reached up with his gloved right hand and used a single finger to pull down the half face mask he wore. It revealed his white and blade face with the strap line between them as well as fine screws that had been used to attack the face portion to the rest of the head. "Guess each of us are different. This body is indeed an artificial one."

The boy left his half face mask pulled down, wrapped now just around his neck as he tilted his head up slightly to the nearby streetlamp allowing for his entire face to be briefly illuminated in the dim light, before then dropping his head back down until the shadows helped to conceal his true face. Though he had felt at least somewhat at ease of showing the strange girl his true self, that didn't mean he felt that way about other people who might be nearby. Thankfully for him it was late at night and the only ones out were those who weren't exactly looking for those as young as the two genin, their eyes were on the lookout for much older gentlemen to buy their goods.

Atsuko had just started talking again, drawing the look from Ning back onto the horned girls cute face before he seemed to freeze, at first it appeared he was simply listening to her words which at the moment were actually not being fully heard by the kid. Instead, he lifted his gloved hand, the index finger shakily pointing at what she might confuse as herself. But if one looked closely, they would be able to tell that his pointer was actually directed over her shoulder. The lips of the Prosthetic face were gape for a moment before started to udder the girls name, cutting her off mid description about her mom and dad. "Atsuko...is that...!" It was a bit of fear and surprise mixed in his words as he tried to speak, attempting to direct his comrade's attention over to the almost horrific looking ghost kid that had just materialized behind her.

[Kanade]

Atsuko turned around, shrieked and almost fell over herself. She had seen spirits, she had even seen ghosts before, but this thing was monstrous. It let out a laugh that was actually very much like a child's laugh, which didn't fit the visage of the spirit that hung slightly off the ground. "I would like to play a game, tag or hide and seek, Catch me if you can, or hide your eyes, count, and don't peek." The ghost child said in a sing-song way. Atsuko scooted back on her rear to Ning before scrambling up. She was usually not afraid of spirits, but this one was more 'human' than she'd like, and she really didn't enjoy regular humans' company.

"Uh, Ning, you got any idea what he is referring to?" Atsuko, as it turned out, had never played tag, never had played hide-and-seek, and had always just put her nose to the grindstone through school. Having artificially aged, she also didn't have enough time to really waste doing things like this or just 'being a kid'. "I have no idea what tag is. Hide-and-seek I infer is where someone hides something of value and the others need to seek it out. Maybe that's what's going on, maybe he's been stealing things from people and hiding them all over."

The ghost kid looked at Atsuko with a 'I can't believe you're real' expression, somewhere between agape and annoyed. "Where did you find her?" the ghost boy asked Ning.

[Zao]

The young Shinobi absent mindly swallowed out of habit, even though their was way for his inhuman body to produce the normal saliva or any bodily fluids for that matter but at least he managed to close his synthetic lips after a few moments. Also it at least appeared that Atsuko was in a similar state of mind as she scrambled from her backside up to a standing position closer to Ning now. As she did he couldn't help but speak in a whisper-like voice to his companion. "Uh...do they normally...look like this?" The rather inhuman appearance of the ghostly boy had Ning looking out of the corner of his eyes back and forth between the horned girl and the ghost boy, hoping that she would be able to put some light on this rather dark situation.

But before she could the ghost actually began to speak, it was like a playful sing along that caused the young man to flinch. It was in a stark contrast to the grotesque physical appearance of the child, but it seemed from the rapid shifting of the spirit's appearance that this was something that took little effort on the ghost's part. "Well, tag is just a fun game like it sounds, someone is "it" and attempts to tag the others that attempt to not get tagged."

The glove covered left hand of the shinobi rose up, lightly touching the smooth metal chin of his constructed face, it was an odd feeling because the body didn't give him a true sensation of touch. He could understand the pressure and resistance given from touching something but the true feeling was absent in this kind of body. Which had both its advantages and disadvantages in life and combat. "Hide and seek is the same concept, except everyone hides while the seeker or finder looks for them. Last one found wins." Ning couldn't help but find it a bit odd to have to explain children games to his new friend, but it was a question for a different time as the ghost kid was here right now. But the real question was how to preceed.

"Haha." It was a nervously laugh from Ning at the apirits words towards Aksuto, as he had kind of wandered along the same line of thought but speaking it aloud was a bit disrespectful. "Um, how about some tag, my little friend?" Ning was trying to see if he could figure out this ghost and even pondered if he would be able to even touch him. Maybe if they played with him a bit the spirit would talk more to them about himself or why he was still stuck here.

[Kanade]

Atsuko shook her head, “No they normally do not look like this.” She said to the shinobi next to her. The boy shook his head faster than a dog shaking water and when he was done his face was that of a boy again, “Tag it is then.” He dropped down to touch the ground, but did not stop there. With a grin he continued to sink into the pavement as if it were water and he were letting go of a water-walking jutsu slowly. Atsuko’s eyebrows raised, “Well, that looks rather a lot like cheating.” She said as the boy completely submerged in the concrete.

The boy’s hand came up and grabbed Ning, his icy grip leaving a bit of harfrost on the boy’s ankle and a disembodied voice resounded in the entire area, “You’re it!” and then a giggle could be heard and frosty footprints retreated toward the nearest manhole.

“Manholes it is.” Atsuko frowned, “And I suppose your it.” She sprinted as fast as she could away from ning, “I think that I need to avoid getting touched by you now, right?” She grinned and lifted up the manhole cover, scrambling down the rusted pipe ladder that descended into the inky foul abyss below. “I can’t see anything down here.” She protested, “I am going to need some sort of light.”

She reached the bottom and waved her hand in front of her face. She might as well have not bothered, there was nothing to see. No light permeated the bottom of the sewer, not even trickling down from the street lamps above. No wonder people had fallen to their deaths down here.

“Come and get me!” the boy’s voice echoed in the tunnels, then from the opposite end, “You’ll never catch me! I’m the best runner in Iwagakure!”

Atsuko had little doubt she couldn't catch him, but she tried to hide in the inky blackness, almost tripping over something large and cylidrical, and soft. She shuddered to think what it might be and tried to grope her way around, finding an alcove to her left she hid inside it and held her breath, trying to hide from Ning in this game of Tag, which had almost turned into a game of hide-and-seek as well in the black of the storm sewers.

[Zao]

Ning simply gave a lit nod towards his female comrade at her reply, it would seem things had been decided by the ghost boy as he declared aloud that they would play tag. Which seemed pretty straight forward at first, at least from the young man's perspective as it was just a game of tag, right? But before he realized it the transparent kid was sinking into the ground and the mechanical face of the shinobi couldn't help but look on in shock. "Thats...that's not fair!" Without even thinking the words blurted out of his painted white lips as the kid could only shake his head realizing much too late that ghosts had the ability to move through objects. He could only forcibly close his open mouth and shake his head again at Atsuko's mention of cheating, even letting out a light sigh because of it. How great would it be if one could move through objects like that while still alive?!

Then from nowhere he felt a light bit of pressure around on of his ankles, looking down to see a partially emerged ghostly head and half an arm reaching through the solid earth holding on to him. Without even a moment's hesitation the ninja leaped to the wide as the contact was broken, barely hearing the words of him now being it. 'It can physically tough object to?!' This part was strange, he had figured that the boy couldn't really interact to much with the physical plane only to have his understanding flipped upside down only a few moments after meeting a real ghost. 'This...' His red tinted eyes couldn't help but see the frost like mark left on his metallic leg, if that had been normal skin what would it have done? Was this little ghost truly dangerous and a threat to those around here and was it done on purpose? All these questions were things he couldn't quite answer just yet as he calmed his mind and went to look over at his new friend.

"Um, yes." He hadn't noticed that she'd already rapidly ventured away from him, seeming to have a general gist of the game of tag only now things were turning into a mix between hide and seek, and tag. 'That was fast!' A half smile crept onto the man's metallic face as he reached up, returning his half face mask into the proper position as he scanned around him doing his fives and twenty-five-meter searches of the surrounding area. Off to his left side, just behind his normal view he spotted a manhole similar to the one Atsuko had used and just shrugged his shoulders. Steeling his nerved he quickly moved to the hole, reaching down with his gloved hand to lift and slide off the cover before jumping in without a second though. Splash! His feet sunk into a few inches of liquid, but he wouldn't call it water and couldn't begin to guess just what filth, and such was mixed in with it. Exhaling slowly, he realized that the tunnels were completely dark, even as he tried to force his eyes to adjust. Little rays of light every so often could be seen as they managed to slip through the holes in the man covers that were close to streetlights.

He almost jumped again, still flinching, as the boy's voice echoed from one side of the tunnel he was facing down and as he took a single step that direction it came again, only this time from the opposing side. 'Are you kidding me?' It didn't look hopeful for him to be able to actually win this game of tag but hopefully since the boy wanted to come down here the pair might find some other hints or clues about the kid in question. Turning down the tunnel towards the last call from the boy, the shinobi began to carefully walk in that direction as he listened closely for any other sounds around him. Unknowingly walking away from his hiding partner who could probably hear his feet moving in the yucky water as he moved further down the tunnel.

[Kanade]

The giggling retreated down toward where Atsuko heard splashes and squelches. Probably her companion as it had been nothing but silence and the giggling and voices since she had descended. Trying to be stealthy, she walked behind Ning, trying to keep to the parts of the storm sewer that didn't make noises but couldn't help but squeak as she tripped over something that was dog-sized that lay on the floor and tumbled on the hard slick stones. Her hands slipped on the muck and she fell hard on her shoulder, making a noise like a herd of elephants as she scrambled away from where she knew the water was on her left.

The ghost boy laughed with mirth and said, "She's behind you mechanical boy, you can't catch me!" The boy lit up with a sickly green glow, it might as well have been the intensity of the sun for all Atsuko could tell and she could see Ning ahead of her, He was headed for a dead end and a sudden drop. A manhole above where he had been headed apparently descended down into the abyss. A good thing that the ghost had decided to illuminate himself at that particular time. The ghost boy laughed in delight, a high and piercing sound in the tunnels before he disappeared into a wall and came out about a dozen yards away, down a different passage, then disappeared again and came out of the wall above the sudden drop into the depths of the sewers.

With a playful whooping noise he plummeted, taking the greenish light down with him. Atsuko shuddered, knowing now how the others had died. "Don't misjudge the ladder, it's across from where you are." She said, "We should tag him."

"No tag backs." a voice came from right next to her, startling her almost out of her skin as only the boy's eyes and mouth revealed themselves in the sickly greyish green light before disappearing and leaving them again in complete darkness. "I wish I had a light." Atsuko murmured.

[Zao]

The living puppet had no idea he was headed for a dead end, or even better a dead drop off, as he quietly moved through the damp underground tunnel system that run under the streets of Iwa. After the initial laughing and giggling from the boy it went quite as his eyes were slowly being adjusted by his chakra so that it wasn't just pitch darkness, but it was a far crying from actually being useful for more than just understanding the outline of the tunnel ahead of him. Suddenly from behind him was the sound of Atsuko slipping and falling, unsure of whom it was Ning halted his movements and turned around 'Is that her?'

The sounds created by her fall covered up any of the sounds she might have personally made from the fall, so he wasn't sure if it was his comrade or the ghost messing with him, but it would be revealed a moment later. His ghostly friend spoke from the space between himself and Atsuko, but it was more than that as the child glowed with an icky green hue, due to the darkness the naturally average brightness was almost overwhelming forcing the right arm of the ninja to raise up to shield his vision. From behind the arm, it allowed his eyes to readjust as the light radiating off the child's soul was enough to spread over most of this section of the tunnel. Able to see the shape of the female ninja's body in the other direction and as he glanced around him, he could see that there was what looked like a drop off not far in the direction he had been walking. 'Was it just coincidence or was the boy trying to warn me?'

Perhaps the ghost believed that if Ning was hurt it would be one less person to play with him or perhaps it just happened without any thought behind it. But much like before the ghost vanished into the wall, then appeared further away down the passageway towards his friend and then disappeared once more only to appear in the ceiling behind him and above the drop off. Before he could say anything, the boy seemed to plummet down into the dark abyss that traveled further down into the earth. "Suppose we should follow..." Though he spoke the words aloud it was almost like he was questioning himself as he did, shaking his thoughts were starting to circulate in his mind about the connection between the boy and the sewers.

Carefully he started to move towards the drop off, discovering a latter system that was build into the stone that led down the vertical shaft but he was unable to see more than a few feet into the darkness leaving him with no idea as to how deep it went nor what lay at the bottom. The trickling of water from the tunnel they were currently on flowed over the edge like a small waterfall, carrying with it all kind of things. "I wish I had learned some Katon right about now." Up to this point he had only managed to learn some earth and metal based ninjutsu, but how helpful would a fire style technique be right now to at least help light the way.

"Here I go..." With those words he lowered himself to a sitting position as his legs were allowed to hang off the edge, his legs and lower torso quickly become soaked in the nasty water that moved through the tunnel as he found the first couple rungs of the latter that headed down. After a few moments he had mounted the latter, trying to keep three points of contact on it as he started to descend into the abyss chasing after the little ghost boy.

[Kanade]

As Atsuko followed and descended above and behind Ning the air became more and more closed, the freshness of even the wafts that came from above ground gave way to stale air that mingled with the broken bits and pieces of carcasses that had fallen down the long pit. The boy giggled and wet footsteps could be heard from down even further. Atsuko's foot slipped and she grappled with the slippery hand holds that were in the storm sewer and hung there for a good solid moment and a half, "How far are we from the bottom Ning?" She asked when she heard him touch the ground below.

The ghost boy, meanwhile flitted in and out of the walls and then made his way through a grate at the end of the tunnel. He stopped, looked at something that looked like a pile of rags and then flitted through the bars which were obscured by the substance, about the size of a small chest that would hold garments. He flit down the passage, "You'll never catch me!" he shrieked in delight, "But you're the first to ever get this far!" Atsuko closed her eyes and thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't at the bottom yet or she would have tried to strangle the already dead boy.

"Ask him what his name is, or something else to slow him down." She hissed in a whisper that got distorted, bent and sent back, trickling down the corridors. Little did she know that at the bottom of this particular ladder into the deeper part of the sewers was a pile of bodies, fresh and rotting, people who had broken necks, or broken limbs and starved to death, and even more gruesome, some that looked like they had died of shock.

[Zao]

Hearing the words from his teammate, Ning looked up but barely could make out her silhouette from the faint light that broken through the manhole cover directly above them, as for below, after the boy had disappeared into the wall it was a pitch black void that even he was unsure of how deep as the light from the boy had been several meters below him when he faded into another wall. "I'm honestly not too sure." He replied honestly, stopping his movements as he listed to the water falling, it seemed like the water was still falling for another ten or so meters below them. The kids' senses worked but were still something he was getting used to be as he had almost reached the bottom he was almost overwhelmed with the smell of death. Most people had smelled a dead animal before that had been dead for a few days, but this smell was several times worse as though it had been dead for a long time and from the aroma it must have been more than one thing.

"I'm at the bottom now." He called up, but as he searched for a place to plant his foot, he felt something soft that squished under his metallic feet. 'What in termagant?' Shifting the foot, he found a place that felt solid as he then brought his other foot down only to kick something that sounded hard but clattered against the wet stone blocks on the floor. Unknowingly he had kicked some bones that had long lost their flesh wither through decay or other creatures stripping it from those bones over time. Part of him wanted to know what was under his feet right now in the darkness but then again there was another part of him that was a bit scared of what it actually could be if it was partner up with the smell of rotten flesh that assaulted him in the pit.

His gentle red eyes shifted down to his left as the glow from the boy illuminated a shaft that ran several meters across into another long tunnel it seemed, but the light seemed to reflect off the water of the tunnel allowing for it to extend almost back to Ning's position allow for him to see the terrible truth of the pit he stood in. It would reveal the pieces of bone and other repulsive things which had filtered down through the connected tunnels above down into this water sump. It made the prosthetic youth actually jump with fright, but who wouldn't if they realized they were standing inside a terrible soup of bones, rags, and flesh. This leap wasn't great, but it landed him with his back against the wall near the next tunnel that the small boy had flittered into.

"Kid! What's your name? " Upon the girls request he tried to divert the attention of the ghost boy, but to what avail who really knew as he turned his head up and to the right hearing the sounds of Atsuko coming further down the old later. "It's rather nasty down here, pieces of everything you could think of all mixed into a pile." Though there was really no need for his body to do so, Ning covered his mouth and coughed as if the smell had affected the organs that he didn't have anymore, what a strange sensation. 'Maybe it's better if she doesn't know what she's about to be stepping in....'

[Kanade]

"My name?" The ghost child asked, slowing down his pace and then turning around, walking back to the bundle on the floor, wedged in the grate, "My name?" He repeated, his ghostly brow furrowing. Atsuko dropped to the floor past the last two rungs, jarring herself and feeling her teeth clack together with the drop. She turned around as the ghost stared through his hands, then looked at the bundle. He stared in silence and Atsuko tried to get Ning's attention to go toward the pile that he was looking at.

All of the sudden the child let out a wail that shook the stones in their mortar, sending some dust scattering down around them. The shriek sounded less human and more like a wounded animal. The boy launched himself into the pile and the pile started to rise and reshape itself, a macabre skeleton of a child, missing some bones but supported by the spirit within. It pointed a finger at Atsuko and Ning, "You did this! I was just playing hide and seek and you did this!" He started to charge at them at a dead run, fingers splayed as if to grab Atsuko by the throat. She stared in wide-eyed terror as the skeleton moved, its bones making noises similar to a large insect as it scuttled across the floor. The eyes that burned in the skull were greenish and filled with hate, the teeth that were missing from the skull were replaced with sharp fangs.

Atsuko had little doubt that the fangs could pierce flesh.

"We need to burn it Ning!" She shouted as she started to make hand seals. The skeleton wrapped one of its bony hands around Atsuko's neck and the other slapped at her hands, breaking the hand seals that she was performing. It slammed her head into the stones once, and her vision blurred and dulled.

[Zao]

'Is it working?' The false bodied shinobi had managed to get through the ick and muck that was left over at the bottom of the drainage shaft he had just descended down into from the initial sewer tunnel above, the water here still flowed slowly as he used the basic water walking technique allowing for a thin layer of chakra to line the soles of his boots as he stopped sinking into the water with heavy splashes. His eyes staring down the dimly outlined tunnel ahead, further down the tunnel past another set of grates the boy seemed to slow down, even turning towards the youth who was closing steadily on him. Though it had just been a suggestion from his comrade that he had went with seeing no other options at that point it seemed to be working, but what was with the confused look on the kids face, did the spirit really not have any memories of his actual name?

"Yes, what's your name kid?" Ning once more questioned the tiny spirit in the form of a human kid, but as he advanced the kid turned his vision away from him and seemed to be walking towards something and then off to the side wedged into the small gate ahead of him was what looked like a bundle of clothing on the floor. Approaching the dim green glow helped the genin to see that pile of rubbish on the floor was actually smooth and in several pieces. 'A body?!' It caused him to take a step back in shock, a tiny body as his eyes shifted rapidly back and forth between the translucent kid and the remain. "Could it be...?!" He mumbled aloud to himself, forgetting about the game of tag or hide 'n seek that they he been playing, was this the child's body all the way down here in this recess of the sewer? But as he was speaking to himself the boy's aura changed to something very ominous as it released the animalistic scream that shook the foundation of the rocky tunnel the pair found themselves inside.

The spirit quickly merged with the boy, the feelings of hatred and sorrow and revenge seemed to coalescence into one being as the bones rapidly came to life and the green aura spread to the bag of bones and even more so brightly within the empty eye sockets. It happened to fast, being caught off guard and in dark conditions the almost insect like movement of the skeleton rushed past him in a surprise movement with unexpected speed right toward his new friend who had just arrived. 'Damn it!' Ning cursed inwardly as his cable like tail slipped from under his shirt out of an opening in the back of his prosthetic upper torso and with its spear like tip whipped over his shoulder under the control of his chakra. As the skeletal creature attacked Atsuko the spear like sword tip slashed downward from above intending to cleanly dissect the boney frame right down the middle like a vertical slash of a sword.

[Kanade]

Atsuko felt the blade go through the spirit and it quivered and wavered. Letting loose it's hold Atsuko thanked her lucky stars that she had the foresight to bilk that merchant of a couple ryo when she bought the explosive tags. She planted one on the thing's chest and an eruption rocked the sewers they were in, sending foul smelling debris cascading all around them. Luckily Ning was behind the now bisected spirit and didn't take much of the blast, but Atusko was tossed like a rag doll into the ladder, where she lay stunned for a brief moment before attempting to shake it off. Her ears ringing, unable to focus on anything but staying alive, she started to sluggishly form hand seals as the spirit started to recoalesce into its former form.

Knowing she had to inure herself to pain, she grit her teeth and focused on the seals with her torn up hands from the blast, "Tiger, Dog, Tiger" She pointed her hand at the spirit's bones, "Ning, if you can find something flammable, light it on this jutsu!" she hurled the magma at the spirit and it cascaded and hit the bones wiht a dull 'thunk' noise. Hopefully this would be enough to seal it, or burn it, or kill it. She had no idea what kind of trouble she would be in if this last ditch effort didn’t work.

Seeing it start to free itself, the spirit howled in rage and started to pull the magma apart, bit by bit, though the bones were guttering with foul-smelling smoke. So it 'was' flammable, but only barely. "I wish I had Katon!" Atsuko moaned. “Ning, you have any ideas? This thing came back from an explosive tag and being bisected, I don’t know what else we can do to it. Mother always said to burn the body or the bones. Or whatever it’s tied to, but the bones are burning and it’s not dying! Is there anything else here that it could be tied to?”

She looked around, and her eyes darted past the dying light of the magma to where the bones had emerged, “Perhaps over there?”

[wc:360]

[Zao]

The spirit and its rotten former body were completely bisected by the blade, but it seemed to simply stun the zombie-ish creature that took the place of the formerly playful little boy's spirit. Perhaps this was the deep emotions that were rooted in the boy just before his death. Still, Ning felt a pain in his heart attacking the kid's body as it still held some resemblance to a child but for Atsuko's sake, he does not pull his punches. Though he truly didn't expect what he thought was a reckless action, of her using an explosive not at close range on the recovering spirit.

His cable like tail retracted quickly as it appeared just over his right shoulder, almost like some sort of scorpion stinger as he witnessed the corpse covered in a small amount of lava, one of the trademark elements of their great village. Yet, again he was surprised to find that not only was it not destroyed by the molten earth jutsu but was slowly breaking free. Ning needed to act, he had wanted to attack with his flame rune earlier but the tunnel was to tight and the distance between his new companion and himself was also to close.

But with her at more of a range and the spirit caught in between them it was time to act, "Protect yourself!" His voice echoed in the enclosed space of the rock tunnel before his hands came together forming a hand seal and chakra was released from his internal core to the seal in mouth of the puppet activated in turn with him opening his mouth. A deep fiery glow appeared within the dark orifice of the puppet body's mouth before a powerful wave of fire erupted forward feeling the entire diameter of the tunnel.

Ning had estimated the distance between himself and Atsuko to be enough that she should be just out of range of the attack plus there was the spirit's possessed bag of bones between them to also slow down the technique from advancing to its normal full range. The boy felt a chunk of his chakra reservoir used all at once from the attack as he was almost blinded by the sudden light produced by his own Katon attack that would consume the body of the boy, hopefully stopping it. If not at least providing the pair some room to link back up and escape, if it came down to that.

UsedShow

Flame Breath Mechanism
Strength: 15
Speed: 15
Description: Located within the mouth of the puppet body is a C-rank Katon ancient rune. When activated the rune will release a spherical shaped wave of flames ten meters in diameter. This flame orb is capable of moving up to thirty meters away at [Speed] and [Strength].

[Kanade]

Atsuko saw the bones burn, the spirit retreated into the earth and they were left with the flickering remnants of charred bones. "Jeez, I never thought that I would be thankful for a spirit to be gone." She sighed with relief and laughed. There was a metallic clinking noise and a locket opened on the ground from the boy's fallen and charred remains. A young girl was pictured there. Atsuko lifted it up to the light of one of the burning pieces of debris and gasped.

"Ning! I know this girl, she's really old now!" She smiled, "We can give this to her and tell her what happened to this boy, and perhaps she can tell us more about him and why he was attacking us." There was a sound of wet footfalls and then the sound of a rapidly ascending person, probably a large man. Atsuko looked up to see someone scurrying up the pipe, black robes trailing behind him.

"Who do you suppose that was?" she asked ning as the last flickering lights in that dark place started to gutter in the damp.

[Zao]

The flames and sudden burst of fiery light subsided as the boths metallic mouth snapped shut and the ancient rune concealed within it ceased it's activation. A foul smell of charred skin wafted up as Ning's eye sight readjust to the dark tunnel. The remnants of the flames could be found scattered through the tunnel giving it a soft orangey glow.

"I wonder if he's gone for good." Ning couldn't help but ask as he took slow steps, finding he way through the now dry tunnel before it would surely fill back up with nasty water and all kinds of unspeakable things soon enough. "You know her?" He arrived in time to still be able to glimpse the young girl in the photo as he question while their was still some light flickering about.

"That seems like the right thing to do, if so." The boy was quiet fixing his face mask when the footfalls of some latlrger than either of them echoed in his ears. With a quick shift of his feet he soon stood between the sounds an Atsuko. Each hand held palm outwards as a mechanical sound could be heard of each. "Who's there?" He called out as his hand cannons were activated but the person was already gone. "No idea who else would be down in this place."

[Kanade]

Atsuko looked up after the man, wondering if they should go after him and sighed, "I don't know who that was, but he didn't want us knowing we were down here. Perhaps we should take the things to the woman and see whether she knows the man or not?" She asked Ning with a shrug, "-especially this locket."

She gathered the small bit of metal into her shredded and bleeding hands and started the ascent to the surface at a snail's pace, the cold iron stung and clung to her battered hands and she knew that her mother would be furious at the state they were in. If only she knew some Iijutsu she could hide them properly. As they reached the surface she took a look about, the midnight air was giving way to the early breeze of first light and the vestiges of the purple hues were making way for the coming silver dawn.

Unbekonwnst to her, as she was offering Ning a hand up, there was a third person who wasn't enjoying the morning air nearly as much. He narrowed his eyes, drinking in every detail of the two that had thwarted his plans. he would remember them. His hot breath came out through the rebreather in his oni mask as he glared at them.

[Zao]

"Aye, we should note it in our report, as well." He nodded as his eyes glanced over the picture and then to the locket. Who knew how long either of the items in the injured hands of the young girl had been down here. Following closely behind his comrade, Ning would quickly ascend the latter after Atsuko as the tunnel above them held faint rays of light that filtered down from the desolate city streets above ground.

A few minutes later Ning reached out and lightly took hold of the extended hand, crawling out the last meter from the slick rungs of the ladder that led up and out onto the street level. "Thanks." Smiling lightly behind his once again masked face and stood up relaxing his light grip on Atsuko's hand. The beautiful painted sky in the east that fought back the darkness of the prior night was a much welcomed sight to behold as it caused him to briefly pause and just enjoy it. "Where did you recognize the woman in the photo?"

But the had a mission to finish as he pulled his own crimson lenses away from the lovely artwork and back onto his cute companion. Questioning her about the words she had said back down in the lower tunnel.

[Kanade]

Atsuko pointed, "She is a merchant that lives in a house not far away from here, actually. The house is really old and she has kids now that come to help her set up shop every morning. I got a pair of scissors from her the other day." She smiled brightly in the morning, "If we hurry we can catch her before she opens up shop."

With that, Atsuko led the way, smelling like a sewer, her hands all torn, her body tired and creaky for a child, and her mind weary, but for all that, her spirit was full as she clasped the locket to her chest and walked along. The smell and her appearance got more than one stare as she wound her way to the house. The old woman was just setting up shop when Atsuko approached her, "Hello Oba-san" she said in her politest tones, "I have something that I believe is yours." She opened her tattered hands, seeing the dried and caked blood and filth on them made the locket seem all the more bright in the morning's sun. It also showed her how much trouble she'd be in later when her mother was scrubbing out the dirt from the wounds to teach her a lesson.

She looked up at the house, which she suspected to be a family house, behind the old woman. The woman sold soaps, conditioners, and other grooming materials. She had for as long as Atsuko could remember. Atsuko smiled her brightest smile, showing her pearly whites among her dingy skin and dirty clothes.

[Zao]

"Let's try!" It seemed neither seemed to take in account of how they look or even for that matter how the two kids smelled after their little adventure in the Iwa sewer system. Glad to be out in the open air and back in the sunlight which had just creseted in the eastern horizon the pair had set off to deliver the locket.

Ning walked in stride with Atsuko and in a short trip the duo were arriving at an older looking house that doubled as a misc shop that sold a variety of different items. He'd never personally been there but knew his mother would come here to pick up soaps and the like for herself and the rest of the family, we'll, excluding him. They had arrived just as the older lady was setting out a few items on the exterior display shelves of her store.

The woman turned not because she heard them at first, no it was because the gentle morning breeze had actually caused for their unpleasant smell to proceed their arrival. Pinching her nose the woman tried to put on a friendly smile as the two young kids that were covered in dirt and grime approach. "Hello, darlings." Despite the smell she still greeting them in a polite tone and even allowed a sincere, friendly smile that partially revealed her teto form on her lips.

"For me?" There was of course a bit of doubt in her question, at least at first before the glint of golden metal could be seen in the injured hand. A stray ray of sunlight caused the locket to appear to almost glow in the morning light. When she say the locket fully now she completely froze and the small glass trinket smthat the woman's frail looking fingers were about to place out on a shelf fell to the ground, shattering into a couple pieces.

Even so, her eyes couldn't be peeled away and each of the eyes were already growing visibly moist, the tears threating to spill over and down her slightly wrinkled cheeks. He hands trembled as she hand to force each step, taking a few steps down from the store front onto the stone street, before her hands ever so carefully wrapped around the dirty and bloody hand of Atsuko's. With trembling fingers she accepted the old locket and opening up to reveal her picture from many years ago. "This locket belonged to my younger brother, Daku. He went missing when he was only eight while we were playing hide-n-seek one evening..." Her words trailed off as she finally broken down, pulling the dirty locket tight into her blossom, tears finally free to flow down onto her face and the ground.