Approval Link.
Bingo Book Entry
----------A month ago----------
A whole week it took the monster of the sands to cross the desert and find the edges of the desert. By that time he was almost sure the man he was supposed to be finding would either be gone and back over the borders to River Country where Saemon could not go, or he would be closer to Suna, having taken another path. Several times Saemon had stopped to check the sands for chakra signals. There were a few and he'd had to check them out to be sure, but to no avail. The dunes slowly rolled out, turning from voluminous heaps, to soft mounds. Finally, by night three in the desert was flat and rocky. The shrubby and cactus life was growing ever more abundant to further north he went and by the fifth day, there were an abundance of desert-type plant-life and animals such as hares, coyotes and rattle snakes. Not that there hadn't been lots of snakes to begin with, but the breeds had changed.
The weather too was less brutal. At night Saemon had been forced to sleep underground, buried in a sandy tomb. He couldn't help but think of Koho, the woman who had once ruled his heart. How many times did he have to find her and watch over her in the same way? How many times had they been forced to lay in a pitch black hole, under the sands together until the bitter cold night returned to scorching day? He didn't sleep much those nights. So when the 4th night came, he was able to sleep above ground due to the milder temp and available cover and slept much better.
The 5th morning, the sun was partially hidden behind a shade of pillowy, white clouds. The shade and heat were beautiful and Saemon could travel with his upper body bare for the first time since starting the trip. Before now he'd been forced to be dressed from foot to hair in clothing and cloaks to avoid death by the sun. The air rushed by, caressing his tattooed flesh like a woman's hand; tender and delightful. He relished in the feel of it and ached at the image that before long he would have to return to the horrible heat and then.. the musky, dark cave they called home. Bunch of moles they all were...
There was a small town up ahead, the place he was seeking out in fact. It was little more than a settlement of a few dozen mud houses and an inn doubling as the food and water supplier, but this place saw more travelers than most. Saemon hadn't been here in over 8 years; since the last time he'd been heading toward Fire Country in fact. It looked exactly the same too. The huge man decided it was time to cover up some of the telltale signs of his profession (the scars and musculature) and slipped a black shirt over his head, the one he had tied at his waist. It smelled badly, like he did o doubt, but it was of no concern. Then he slipped his cloak back on and took to a hunch and tired gait, which further masked his strengths.
It wasn't much of a disguise, but it didn't need to be. This was a place he was welcomed and probably several people here would feel better once he'd finished up what he came here to do. There were several young women living here with their families and would be easy pickings for the likes of the man he was hunting. Still, no need to alert his status by walking around bare chested.
The inn was the first place to stop. He'd brought plenty of yen (and some things to trade off later in the night). After entering the building, and having to stoop to get in the doorway, he made his way over to a table and slid into the wooden seat in the open dining room meant for customers. He lounged back and relished in the ability to relax for a short time. A pretty young girl with curly, chocolate brown hair and even darker, smooth skin came over, her hands holding a glass filled with water. She set the glass down before him (though it wasn't free here, they just assumed anyone coming would pay for it in thirst) and smiled at Saemon in a genuinely welcoming and kind way. He found himself returning the look easily.
"Hi there. Coming from the desert?" she asked, wrinkling her short nose slightly. It looked cute on her, even though she was obviously telling him that he stunk.
Shrugging lightly, the man answered the girl with humor in his deep, rumbling voice. "That bad, huh?" She grinned again. "Yes I did and I'm very hungry. Bring me whatever the special is and two beers if you wouldn't mind." The girl gave him a nod and turned on her heel, making her curls bounce when she did so. Saemon found himself watching her leave.
When he was by himself for the next few minutes, his face returned to neutral and he looked around the place with tired, dull blue eyes. There weren't many patrons here at the moment, but the place wasn't completely vacated either. There was no lingering smell of fear or distress in the vicinity so he assumed for the moment that either his target wasn't here or hadn't done anything someone had noticed... yet. Sadly Saemon wouldn't be able to catch him unless he made himself known so it was a waiting game for the time being. How long that wait was... was another matter. He was given a 4 week clearance on the job. He hoped Kitanai wouldn't have any trouble while he was away.
The young woman returned shortly, carrying a tray with his drinks and steaming food. It seemed odd to want to eat hot food in the desert, but it was easier to make fresh, hot food than keep large freezers running. The girl slid his plate before him. He was some sort of thinly sliced, white meat with spicy tuber vegetables on the side and some sort of chilled slaw mix in a cup. The meat, it turned out, was sand snake. It sounded common enough, but they were a bitch to find and even harder to catch. They didn't have venom but moved like lightning. When the two drinks were set before him, he lifted one immediately to his lips and took a long drink. The honey toned booze was delightful going down. No doubt it wasn't cheap. He was beginning to wonder if the man at the bar remembered him or if he just wanted to take as much money from his customers as possible.
The girl smiled and lingered there, ready to ask if everything was fine, when Saemon hooked a finger on her belt loop and gave her a tug. The girl squeaked in surprise, but didn't protest as she landed right in his lap. The giggle she let out confirmed his thoughts about her being attracted to him, smell and all. His free hand then wrapped around her and sat down on her thigh, the other holding the beer bumped glasses against one another. "That one's for you." he said, grinning at her. "What's your name?"
The girl almost looked like she was going to say she couldn't have a drink, but a quick look around the dining room said she didn't have anyone else to wait on at the moment so she lifted the beer, tapped his with hers in cheers then took a long swig. A single bead dripped from the corner of her puffy lips. When she pulled the bottle away from her mouth, she hurried to wipe the drop away. Blushing a little, she spoke clearly and boldly, despite her darkened cheeks. "I'm Ashia. And you are?"
Saemon didn’t want tell the girl his real name, so he did what he always did when he was out and needed a false name; he used his father’s. "Ryujin.” He took another sip of his beer, then sighed. "So tell me Ashia, do you have a boyfriend?” He wasn’t really interested to be honest, but friendly dialogue would allow him to get information out of the girl and she seemed happy enough to be sitting in this handsome, smell man’s lap, sipping beer.
Ashia gave him a coy look, pursing her soft lips as if contemplating what to say. After a little ”hmmm…” she said, "No, I don’t.” Either she didn’t care whether he had one or she didn’t want to know because she didn’t return the question as many girls tended to. She sipped on her beer again, but her eyes never left his scruffy face.
The two sat there, Saemon on the bench and Ashia in his lap for a good hour. The pair flirted, the girl more than him, and Saemon learned a lot about what was going on at the time. Seemed a two brown haired women were missing from the town, about a month back they both disappeared or rather, ran away. Yet there was no evidence they’d left other than they just vanished. Their things were still here and both were gone overnight. Ashia was sure they were ‘rug munchers trying to escape their dirty fathers’.
He also learned that there had been a recent influx of men coming through here into the desert, but coming back too quickly to have gone as far as the deep desert. She thought they were meeting somewhere out in the dry lands for black market trades of some sort. They were common out here where there were no people to watch it happen.
And of course, he heard a lot about Ashia, who it turned out liked to talk about herself and what she wanted in life. She’d also come from Sky country, but moved here when she was only 2 with her parents and that she was 18. She wanted to escape her own family and find release, like a bird flying away. She had assumed Saemon was a shinobi from the hidden village she’d never yet been to and hinted... often… that he should bring her back with him.
Finally his meal was done with and he’d learned all he needed. So he paid the check (and left Ashia a handsome tip for her aid) and had her find him a room with the keeper. She was more than happy to show him to it as well, but was a little disappointed when he turned her company down, feigning tiredness.
So Saemon found himself alone again. As expected, there was no private bath in his room, just a toilet and small sink so he promised to bathe later when Ashia went home and wouldn’t see him coming back downstairs. Instead he lay down on the weak mattress, his feet hanging off the end, and forced himself to go to sleep. He wouldn’t find anything helpful during the day and would, in fact, bring only more notice to himself. So Saemon would sleep until nightfall, letting himself dream of a small infant with blue eyes and a tuft of black hair resting in Kitanai’s arms.
When night came, Saemon found the baths, washed the dirt and grime from himself, then dressed and headed out into the small town to search around for clues. It wasn’t busy at night, but there were those who seemed to prefer the dark and came out to chat and drink with the others like them. Saemon slipped through the shadows, around the hut houses and began to look around.
At first it was about sitting by windows and listening to conversations. Some came from the house windows, others from people walking around. He went about looking for chakra signatures and found some worth looking at, but mostly just your common travellers. By sunrise, he hadn’t learned anything of value.
For the next several days this went on. Saemon ate at the diner, always attended to by flirty Ashia, slept in the afternoons then stalked about at night. He felt no need to change up the routine until something changed.
Halfway through week 2, he was beginning to think he’d missed the man or he’d been tipped off and he would end up empty handed. He remained vigilant, but took to staying up whole days, every other one. Up from sunrise to sunrise, down for a few hours, then all over again. Finally it started to pay out. Rumors started to rise from quite mouths about a certain ‘Teru-san’ was coming within the next two days.
The man Saemon was looking for went by the name Ateruchi Sagura. Teru-san, a shortened version of his family name. He could use it because these people wouldn’t know what the ANBU knew about him, which was his real name.
But still another week passed without so much as a notion of the man appearing. The last two days, Ashia hadn’t been into work. He assumed she was off (and she’d been on duty every day for the last two weeks so it made sense she’d have some time off). But when he was down for dinner in the evening (or rather, his breakfast) on the second night, he overhead the keep speaking to another man at the bar. “Ashia hasn’t come into work for two days, this isn’t like her. I should probably go see if she’s sick.” Saemon was mid bite into his cactus stew when he stopped in his tracks. A little plopped from his spoon back into the bowl. Ashia wasn’t at work, she hadn’t called in and she wasn’t off duty…
Saemon stood up, leaving his meal behind and went back up to his room. He changed into his ANBU outfit, mask and all, and then left from the window. It was almost night by then and he was able to pass unseen by untrained eyes. In the pit of his stomach he knew what had happened, and he hoped he wasn’t too late. The man Saemon was tracking had been moving silently, even under his own radar for days now apparently. But he’d made an unknown mistake. He had taken Ashia.
It wasn’t that Saemon cared for the girl, he didn’t, at least no more than any other human being undeserving of a brutal end. But she had spent almost 3 weeks around the mountain of Suna and his nose rivaled an Inuzuka’s… something he was beginning to wonder more and more about. He knew Ashia’s scent very well and would be able to find her effortlessly.
Her smell was strong in the inn and along a path from there to a small house. This was her home. He peered through a window and found, as suspected, that she was not there. So he followed her scent trails. They didn’t deviate much, save for one dull path leading away from the town and toward the north. Worry threaded through Saemon’s body as he followed the trail. He couldn’t follow Ashia into River Country. After an hour, the scent got stronger and the trees taller and denser. Saemon could even smell the water before him. There was a small creek that ran along the border of the countries in this region and was probably only another five minutes ahead.
Maybe it was luck, maybe fate, maybe juts chance, but there was a small house standing to the west of Saemon. Ashia’s trail was leading him there. No one would hear anything out here and there were no towns anywhere nearby to lend aid to a captured soul. Saemon had, had to walk in a straight path to get here as it was, so he was sure it was well hidden. It was possible this was Sagura’s hideaway. It actually made sense in a way.
Here he could run into river country if he needed a quick escape or back into Wind country if Rivermen were coming after him. The two countries were divided at the moment which made it bad news to cross from one country to another without expressed permission. Sagura wouldn’t care where he was as long as he could escape.
It was bad news to simply charge in, he knew. He could smell Ashia’s scent strong here, along with blood and fear. And there were several other smells. One was strong scented as well, but not in the way he wanted to imagine and that was all, just the two of them.
Saemon slipped around toward the edge of River Countries borders and began to create a trap for Sagura, if he was to try to escape and run. Once the pit was finished, he crept closer to the house, watching for traps and snares.
It was painfully slow business and he almost slipped up when he heard a woman’s voice cry out in pain suddenly. The sound was muffled somewhat, which suggested she was gagged in some way. Saemon recognized the voice as Ashia’s instantly and approached faster than before. He was sure her end was near; he had that prickling sensation in the back of his neck that happened when someone nearby was about to die.
The house had no windows to it and only the one door. Saemon would have to come in from the front it seemed, which mean coming in ready to kill. But things would not be so easy for Saemon. He did not know this was a trap set for him for Sagura had seen him in town, with Ashia and recognized him for what he was. He was trained skillfully, better than most and could tell someone like Saemon from a crowd anyday.
Ashia had been the bait, and Saemon had come running like some storybook hero. The fact was, Saemon was already trapped within an illusion. From the moment he passed over a set of seals, almost 50 yards back, he was ensnared. It was a slow working Genjutsu, one Sagura called his spider web. Only the very finest Genjutsu masters would be able to notice the-oh-so subtle shift. The whole area would seem the same to Saemon, he could move and approach the house, but when he opened the door, he would be trapped completely. He couldn’t see the chakra laced, metal strings, laid out like a nest. One step into the house and he would be tangled up and trapped.
Saemon paused at the door... his hand over the handle. Something was not right about the prickle at the back of his neck. It wasn’t like the regular prickle, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t have the time to waste though and did exactly what he shouldn’t do; he burst in. In that instant he was tangled up by an unseen force. He struggled against something he couldn’t see, panic rising in his throat.
He looked up and found himself staring at two people. One was Ashia, hanging limply from an V shaped post. She was dressed in an old fashioned Geisha Kimono, but it was left open and there was blood along the bottom half. Much too much blood. She was probably already dead.
The other person was Sagura. He smiled viciously, playing idly with his long fingers nails and looking very pleased with himself. He was a tall man, not as large as Saemon, but no fragile thing. He wasn’t dressed modestly at the moment. He had a black cotton robe on that was tied at the waist, but there was blood on his stomach and thighs that Saemon could see and it made him sick.
”Well, well, mister hero came after all. And you are a big boy, aren’t you? Not as handsome as me I’m sure, but I can see why she liked you so much. I wonder though, what’s under that mask, eh Ryujin?” Sagura’s voice reminded him of a serpent. He dragged his s’s out too long and he spoke hushed, like he was telling a secret. Saemon found it hard to speak, as if there was something around his throat so he didn’t force it for the time being.
Sagura seemed happy to speak in his stead, rising up and walking from his chair to a table where he poured himself some wine. ”I’d offer you some, but I don’t think you’d want it. It’s... a special brew you see.” his eyes flicked over to Ashia, who twitched lightly in her bonds. Saemon could guess what was in the wine that made it redder than violet hued and felt his stomach jump when the male turn a sip.
Delicately, he replaced the glass back onto the stand and turned to regard Saemon with a serious expression. One man looked at another, neither spoke. Sagura’s face took on an ugly expression, one that reflected the horrible person he was within. There was hatred in his eyes, a deep hatred that Saemon hadn’t earned yet was smothered with all the same. He hated him, what he was, and how he was sent to kill him.
It was his RIGHT to do what he did. Angrily, he stomped over and reached out. Saemon could not move as the mask was ripped from his face and tossed to the ground. Dull blue eyes met enraged, pale gray ones. His face was hardened, then just as suddenly, softened. He looked at Saemon like a man looked as his pet or a loved child and long fingers stroked the side of his scruffy face. ”You left her you know.”
Saemon’s brow creased at his words. He knew he meant Ashia but why did his mind jump to Koho? His guilt needed to leave him be in a time like this, so why did he think of her?
It was because his mind was not his own right now. Sagura was able to tap into his thoughts and take out what he wanted from him. The eye contact had let him dig into the deepest misery of Saemon’s conscience and draw it out. Sagura moved to the side and waved his hand out toward the X shaped rack, but instead of Ashia, Koho was there.
Her body was torn, as if she’d been whipped. Chunks of her fancy dress were ripped away and she was left indecently uncovered. Her usually updone, red hair was drooped down before her face and blood was dripping from everywhere.
His body shook, seeing her like this, trembled like a leaf and his eyes were wide. He wanted to speak, call out to her, but his voice would not come. Instead his lips parted and formed her name silently. Yet she’d heard him.
Slowly, as a sloth, she raised her head. The flood of red hair parted along either side of her pale face like a waterfall of sunlight. The limp locks were matted with blood along the front and her face… oh no her face!
Long scratches had been drawn through her skin, from neck to forehead. Skin was split, exposing bone and muscle issue. One of her eyes was cut so it was blinded and her lips were seeping blood. Her one good eye spotted Saemon and it began to cry, weeping tears of misery and suffering. When her mouth parted, blood poured from it like a river and doused her front. Her voice barely worked because her neck had also been slit from ear to ear. But what she said to Saemon… it cut like a knife. ”You betrayed me, Saemon. You’re a monster… you left me… You did this to me!”
He cried out silently as her eye rolled back into her skull and life left her. Tears escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He could not stop them, even if he’d tried.
He closed his eyes tight, squeezing them closed as to not see her form anymore. But Sagura would not allow it. His fingers left Saemon’s face and his footsteps walked away, making soft, padding sounds on the floor. ”Keep looking… Saemon.” he said, his voice farther away. He knew his name now. ”Look at me, or I’ll make you watch her die again… and again…”
He was at his man’s mercy. Pain and rage filled Saemon like a beast, the monster he was, but he was helplessly chained by the unseen force. And as Sagura’s eyes met his once more, his torment would continue.
He had seen all he needed to know about Saemon and Mio appeared next. She was clean, beautiful and smiling, even though she too was attached to the X rack, as Ashia and Koho were before her. Her long hair was flowing like there was a breeze in the air and she looked about as if she were seeing a place different than this.
But her smile faded and pain crossed her exotic features. It was not like the pain of bodily harm, but of something within your own mind eating at you, harming you. Memories, and her past.. they haunted her like a living thing. Fear crept over her and she tried to shy away from the unseen. The sanity was leaving her eyes and before long, they took on another shape. They looked like an animal’s eyes. They grew slotted and golden hued.
Then physical pain started. Her scream was terrible. It resounded along the room, reverberating through the panels and shook him to his core. Terror, agony… consumed then monstrous. Something was within her, eating her from the inside. She cried and begged, then… she screamed his name before the beast tore from her belly. It crawled from her with long arms and clawed hands. She called to Saemon to save her, but he could not. He pulled against his binds, pulled and strained, but they would not give.. and like before he could not speak.
He called to her, but there was no sound. Mio was consumed, and instead of her was a creature, a nightmare. She was gone, but the black creature remained. Saemon wanted to see no more. He closed his eyes against it again.
Yet Sagura was not finished with him. There was one more, and he knew it would come, how could it not?
Her voice was sweet as honey as it spoke his name. A gentle, intimate caress. ”Saemon.” she said. Kitanai was there. She was not bound as the others had been. Mio’s nightmare was gone, like Koho and Ashia. Sagura was standing there too, watching. Kitanai dressed in silk. Her hair was short and wavy and her rounded belly was gone, replaced with flat abs as before he’d gotten her pregnant.
She came so close to Saemon, he could smell the vanilla of her body, though it was muted somehow and fake. She smiled at him, seductively then reached out to touch him. Experienced, slim hands touched his chest, ran down his stomach and caressed his hips. ”What’s mine is mine, Saemon.” she said softly, uttering his own mantra at him. He looked at her face, her beautiful, smooth face and felt such pain. What would happen to her, like Mio and Koho? And where was his baby? He begged her with his eyes to vanish, to leave before she could be hurt too, but she did not care.
Her smile grew wicked and she walked away from him. She dropped her robe, revealing her perfect frame to him from the back. Both hands came up to caress up her body, stopping only when they were reaching up to the sky.
A shadow formed at her side in the shape of a man. Hands roamed her body, cupped her backside and the head nestled into the side of her neck. The face took the form of Toushin, who ignored Saemon’s immediate hatred. His hands touched her, caressed her in ways to make her respond and wiggle in delight. Then another body formed at her other side. He too was tall, and when his face formed, he was beautifully carved as if Mother Suna had crafted him, herself. It was Muji, his brother in arms who he had let touch Koho in these ways, but not Kitanai.
She responded by tipping her head toward him and kissing the man’s lips with passion and desire. Toushin to her right, Onamuji to her left. Hands roamed and explored, touching what was his and she accepted it happily.
And a final body formed before her. The face looked over her shoulder, right at Saemon. Roku... his brother. His teeth were gritted so hard he was afraid he might break them.
He wanted to turn away, but Sagura’s first threat lingered there. So he was forced to watch as each man had his way with Kitanai and then again. She welcomed it, wanted it. When they were done and she was filthy with what remained on her body, the men left into the shadows and Kitanai collected a bundle at her feet.
Naked, she approached Saemon once more, who hung defeated and raw. He did not want to see what she was bringing him. He could not look away, for the bundle was white and was stained with red.
He thought there was nothing left to bring him to his knees, nothing left to destroy him with, but he was wrong. Kitanai opened the bundle and let the heap of red meat and chunks fall to the ground at his feet. ”I didn’t want this one. I kept Toushin’s, but this was the leftovers. You can do what you want with that, okay? I love you, Saemon.” she said sweetly, then leaned in and kissed his lips.
They tasted like nothing, he felt nothing. Everything he loved and feared for had been literally shoved in his face. He closed his eyes and she vanished. The whole room vanished except for Sagura, who was standing nearby, smiling. He was pleased and approached Saemon was a skip in his step. His toothy grin was so close to Saemon’s face, he could smell the man’s breath. It was bloody and grape.
He hated him, more than he hated anyone before. The man could see it and started to laugh. ”Your face it so funny right now, Saemon! You should see it!” He continued to laugh, his eyes closing with mirth.
But Saemon had come to realize early in this was a Genjutsu. These things were his fears and could not be happening as they did now and it was visual Genjutsu that Sagura had instigated with peering into his eyes.
The monster pulled against his invisible binds harder and harder until the blunted edge cut into his flesh. Blood, the pain of a wound like that could snap a man from the Genjutsu once he realized he was within one. Sagura was so sure Saemon was defeated, broken and unable to move that when the wires finally snapped from his strength, he seemed utterly surprised to feel the hand around his throat. The surprise turned to fear as it clamped down hard enough to crush.
He had made such a mistake. The mistake would mean his end. But… but… this man wasn’t going to die, no, Saemon didn’t want him to die yet. So his other hand came up swiftly and with purpose and plucked both of his eyes from his head.
Screaming Sagura fell to the floor, holding his face. He was defeated in one movement. Everything he relied on was gone, in Saemon’s hand then crushed into paste and dropped to the floor behind his wriggling body.
-----------present, back in Suna------------
The trip back home was much harder. His mind was still reeling from what he had experienced and because he had to bring a prisoner back with him. Blind and crying all the way back.
He had dropped him off at the prison then went home to sleep for a week if he could.
Ashia hadn’t died from the experience, but she hadn’t been unharmed. She was almost dead when he got to her, but brought her back to her town. For his aid, the people there were more than helpful in revealing some information he needed on a few names and Ashia herself promised to send him letters regarding Wakahisa Kiroshi and Hanami if she heard anything about them.
In fact he hadn’t gone home empty handed on that matter anyway. Hanami and Kiroshi were names Ashia knew. They had lived in this town only 2 years back and it was rumored they had moved to another country, possible Tea Country. They had friends who traveled to the island country often, so they could find out more for Saemon and tell him when they found anything.
Thing was, they were alive, or at least had been two years ago. This is news he would have to tell Mio… after he got some sleep.
WC: 5506
Bingo Book Entry
----------A month ago----------
A whole week it took the monster of the sands to cross the desert and find the edges of the desert. By that time he was almost sure the man he was supposed to be finding would either be gone and back over the borders to River Country where Saemon could not go, or he would be closer to Suna, having taken another path. Several times Saemon had stopped to check the sands for chakra signals. There were a few and he'd had to check them out to be sure, but to no avail. The dunes slowly rolled out, turning from voluminous heaps, to soft mounds. Finally, by night three in the desert was flat and rocky. The shrubby and cactus life was growing ever more abundant to further north he went and by the fifth day, there were an abundance of desert-type plant-life and animals such as hares, coyotes and rattle snakes. Not that there hadn't been lots of snakes to begin with, but the breeds had changed.
The weather too was less brutal. At night Saemon had been forced to sleep underground, buried in a sandy tomb. He couldn't help but think of Koho, the woman who had once ruled his heart. How many times did he have to find her and watch over her in the same way? How many times had they been forced to lay in a pitch black hole, under the sands together until the bitter cold night returned to scorching day? He didn't sleep much those nights. So when the 4th night came, he was able to sleep above ground due to the milder temp and available cover and slept much better.
The 5th morning, the sun was partially hidden behind a shade of pillowy, white clouds. The shade and heat were beautiful and Saemon could travel with his upper body bare for the first time since starting the trip. Before now he'd been forced to be dressed from foot to hair in clothing and cloaks to avoid death by the sun. The air rushed by, caressing his tattooed flesh like a woman's hand; tender and delightful. He relished in the feel of it and ached at the image that before long he would have to return to the horrible heat and then.. the musky, dark cave they called home. Bunch of moles they all were...
There was a small town up ahead, the place he was seeking out in fact. It was little more than a settlement of a few dozen mud houses and an inn doubling as the food and water supplier, but this place saw more travelers than most. Saemon hadn't been here in over 8 years; since the last time he'd been heading toward Fire Country in fact. It looked exactly the same too. The huge man decided it was time to cover up some of the telltale signs of his profession (the scars and musculature) and slipped a black shirt over his head, the one he had tied at his waist. It smelled badly, like he did o doubt, but it was of no concern. Then he slipped his cloak back on and took to a hunch and tired gait, which further masked his strengths.
It wasn't much of a disguise, but it didn't need to be. This was a place he was welcomed and probably several people here would feel better once he'd finished up what he came here to do. There were several young women living here with their families and would be easy pickings for the likes of the man he was hunting. Still, no need to alert his status by walking around bare chested.
The inn was the first place to stop. He'd brought plenty of yen (and some things to trade off later in the night). After entering the building, and having to stoop to get in the doorway, he made his way over to a table and slid into the wooden seat in the open dining room meant for customers. He lounged back and relished in the ability to relax for a short time. A pretty young girl with curly, chocolate brown hair and even darker, smooth skin came over, her hands holding a glass filled with water. She set the glass down before him (though it wasn't free here, they just assumed anyone coming would pay for it in thirst) and smiled at Saemon in a genuinely welcoming and kind way. He found himself returning the look easily.
"Hi there. Coming from the desert?" she asked, wrinkling her short nose slightly. It looked cute on her, even though she was obviously telling him that he stunk.
Shrugging lightly, the man answered the girl with humor in his deep, rumbling voice. "That bad, huh?" She grinned again. "Yes I did and I'm very hungry. Bring me whatever the special is and two beers if you wouldn't mind." The girl gave him a nod and turned on her heel, making her curls bounce when she did so. Saemon found himself watching her leave.
When he was by himself for the next few minutes, his face returned to neutral and he looked around the place with tired, dull blue eyes. There weren't many patrons here at the moment, but the place wasn't completely vacated either. There was no lingering smell of fear or distress in the vicinity so he assumed for the moment that either his target wasn't here or hadn't done anything someone had noticed... yet. Sadly Saemon wouldn't be able to catch him unless he made himself known so it was a waiting game for the time being. How long that wait was... was another matter. He was given a 4 week clearance on the job. He hoped Kitanai wouldn't have any trouble while he was away.
The young woman returned shortly, carrying a tray with his drinks and steaming food. It seemed odd to want to eat hot food in the desert, but it was easier to make fresh, hot food than keep large freezers running. The girl slid his plate before him. He was some sort of thinly sliced, white meat with spicy tuber vegetables on the side and some sort of chilled slaw mix in a cup. The meat, it turned out, was sand snake. It sounded common enough, but they were a bitch to find and even harder to catch. They didn't have venom but moved like lightning. When the two drinks were set before him, he lifted one immediately to his lips and took a long drink. The honey toned booze was delightful going down. No doubt it wasn't cheap. He was beginning to wonder if the man at the bar remembered him or if he just wanted to take as much money from his customers as possible.
The girl smiled and lingered there, ready to ask if everything was fine, when Saemon hooked a finger on her belt loop and gave her a tug. The girl squeaked in surprise, but didn't protest as she landed right in his lap. The giggle she let out confirmed his thoughts about her being attracted to him, smell and all. His free hand then wrapped around her and sat down on her thigh, the other holding the beer bumped glasses against one another. "That one's for you." he said, grinning at her. "What's your name?"
The girl almost looked like she was going to say she couldn't have a drink, but a quick look around the dining room said she didn't have anyone else to wait on at the moment so she lifted the beer, tapped his with hers in cheers then took a long swig. A single bead dripped from the corner of her puffy lips. When she pulled the bottle away from her mouth, she hurried to wipe the drop away. Blushing a little, she spoke clearly and boldly, despite her darkened cheeks. "I'm Ashia. And you are?"
Saemon didn’t want tell the girl his real name, so he did what he always did when he was out and needed a false name; he used his father’s. "Ryujin.” He took another sip of his beer, then sighed. "So tell me Ashia, do you have a boyfriend?” He wasn’t really interested to be honest, but friendly dialogue would allow him to get information out of the girl and she seemed happy enough to be sitting in this handsome, smell man’s lap, sipping beer.
Ashia gave him a coy look, pursing her soft lips as if contemplating what to say. After a little ”hmmm…” she said, "No, I don’t.” Either she didn’t care whether he had one or she didn’t want to know because she didn’t return the question as many girls tended to. She sipped on her beer again, but her eyes never left his scruffy face.
The two sat there, Saemon on the bench and Ashia in his lap for a good hour. The pair flirted, the girl more than him, and Saemon learned a lot about what was going on at the time. Seemed a two brown haired women were missing from the town, about a month back they both disappeared or rather, ran away. Yet there was no evidence they’d left other than they just vanished. Their things were still here and both were gone overnight. Ashia was sure they were ‘rug munchers trying to escape their dirty fathers’.
He also learned that there had been a recent influx of men coming through here into the desert, but coming back too quickly to have gone as far as the deep desert. She thought they were meeting somewhere out in the dry lands for black market trades of some sort. They were common out here where there were no people to watch it happen.
And of course, he heard a lot about Ashia, who it turned out liked to talk about herself and what she wanted in life. She’d also come from Sky country, but moved here when she was only 2 with her parents and that she was 18. She wanted to escape her own family and find release, like a bird flying away. She had assumed Saemon was a shinobi from the hidden village she’d never yet been to and hinted... often… that he should bring her back with him.
Finally his meal was done with and he’d learned all he needed. So he paid the check (and left Ashia a handsome tip for her aid) and had her find him a room with the keeper. She was more than happy to show him to it as well, but was a little disappointed when he turned her company down, feigning tiredness.
So Saemon found himself alone again. As expected, there was no private bath in his room, just a toilet and small sink so he promised to bathe later when Ashia went home and wouldn’t see him coming back downstairs. Instead he lay down on the weak mattress, his feet hanging off the end, and forced himself to go to sleep. He wouldn’t find anything helpful during the day and would, in fact, bring only more notice to himself. So Saemon would sleep until nightfall, letting himself dream of a small infant with blue eyes and a tuft of black hair resting in Kitanai’s arms.
When night came, Saemon found the baths, washed the dirt and grime from himself, then dressed and headed out into the small town to search around for clues. It wasn’t busy at night, but there were those who seemed to prefer the dark and came out to chat and drink with the others like them. Saemon slipped through the shadows, around the hut houses and began to look around.
At first it was about sitting by windows and listening to conversations. Some came from the house windows, others from people walking around. He went about looking for chakra signatures and found some worth looking at, but mostly just your common travellers. By sunrise, he hadn’t learned anything of value.
For the next several days this went on. Saemon ate at the diner, always attended to by flirty Ashia, slept in the afternoons then stalked about at night. He felt no need to change up the routine until something changed.
Halfway through week 2, he was beginning to think he’d missed the man or he’d been tipped off and he would end up empty handed. He remained vigilant, but took to staying up whole days, every other one. Up from sunrise to sunrise, down for a few hours, then all over again. Finally it started to pay out. Rumors started to rise from quite mouths about a certain ‘Teru-san’ was coming within the next two days.
The man Saemon was looking for went by the name Ateruchi Sagura. Teru-san, a shortened version of his family name. He could use it because these people wouldn’t know what the ANBU knew about him, which was his real name.
But still another week passed without so much as a notion of the man appearing. The last two days, Ashia hadn’t been into work. He assumed she was off (and she’d been on duty every day for the last two weeks so it made sense she’d have some time off). But when he was down for dinner in the evening (or rather, his breakfast) on the second night, he overhead the keep speaking to another man at the bar. “Ashia hasn’t come into work for two days, this isn’t like her. I should probably go see if she’s sick.” Saemon was mid bite into his cactus stew when he stopped in his tracks. A little plopped from his spoon back into the bowl. Ashia wasn’t at work, she hadn’t called in and she wasn’t off duty…
Saemon stood up, leaving his meal behind and went back up to his room. He changed into his ANBU outfit, mask and all, and then left from the window. It was almost night by then and he was able to pass unseen by untrained eyes. In the pit of his stomach he knew what had happened, and he hoped he wasn’t too late. The man Saemon was tracking had been moving silently, even under his own radar for days now apparently. But he’d made an unknown mistake. He had taken Ashia.
It wasn’t that Saemon cared for the girl, he didn’t, at least no more than any other human being undeserving of a brutal end. But she had spent almost 3 weeks around the mountain of Suna and his nose rivaled an Inuzuka’s… something he was beginning to wonder more and more about. He knew Ashia’s scent very well and would be able to find her effortlessly.
Her smell was strong in the inn and along a path from there to a small house. This was her home. He peered through a window and found, as suspected, that she was not there. So he followed her scent trails. They didn’t deviate much, save for one dull path leading away from the town and toward the north. Worry threaded through Saemon’s body as he followed the trail. He couldn’t follow Ashia into River Country. After an hour, the scent got stronger and the trees taller and denser. Saemon could even smell the water before him. There was a small creek that ran along the border of the countries in this region and was probably only another five minutes ahead.
Maybe it was luck, maybe fate, maybe juts chance, but there was a small house standing to the west of Saemon. Ashia’s trail was leading him there. No one would hear anything out here and there were no towns anywhere nearby to lend aid to a captured soul. Saemon had, had to walk in a straight path to get here as it was, so he was sure it was well hidden. It was possible this was Sagura’s hideaway. It actually made sense in a way.
Here he could run into river country if he needed a quick escape or back into Wind country if Rivermen were coming after him. The two countries were divided at the moment which made it bad news to cross from one country to another without expressed permission. Sagura wouldn’t care where he was as long as he could escape.
It was bad news to simply charge in, he knew. He could smell Ashia’s scent strong here, along with blood and fear. And there were several other smells. One was strong scented as well, but not in the way he wanted to imagine and that was all, just the two of them.
Saemon slipped around toward the edge of River Countries borders and began to create a trap for Sagura, if he was to try to escape and run. Once the pit was finished, he crept closer to the house, watching for traps and snares.
It was painfully slow business and he almost slipped up when he heard a woman’s voice cry out in pain suddenly. The sound was muffled somewhat, which suggested she was gagged in some way. Saemon recognized the voice as Ashia’s instantly and approached faster than before. He was sure her end was near; he had that prickling sensation in the back of his neck that happened when someone nearby was about to die.
The house had no windows to it and only the one door. Saemon would have to come in from the front it seemed, which mean coming in ready to kill. But things would not be so easy for Saemon. He did not know this was a trap set for him for Sagura had seen him in town, with Ashia and recognized him for what he was. He was trained skillfully, better than most and could tell someone like Saemon from a crowd anyday.
Ashia had been the bait, and Saemon had come running like some storybook hero. The fact was, Saemon was already trapped within an illusion. From the moment he passed over a set of seals, almost 50 yards back, he was ensnared. It was a slow working Genjutsu, one Sagura called his spider web. Only the very finest Genjutsu masters would be able to notice the-oh-so subtle shift. The whole area would seem the same to Saemon, he could move and approach the house, but when he opened the door, he would be trapped completely. He couldn’t see the chakra laced, metal strings, laid out like a nest. One step into the house and he would be tangled up and trapped.
Saemon paused at the door... his hand over the handle. Something was not right about the prickle at the back of his neck. It wasn’t like the regular prickle, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t have the time to waste though and did exactly what he shouldn’t do; he burst in. In that instant he was tangled up by an unseen force. He struggled against something he couldn’t see, panic rising in his throat.
He looked up and found himself staring at two people. One was Ashia, hanging limply from an V shaped post. She was dressed in an old fashioned Geisha Kimono, but it was left open and there was blood along the bottom half. Much too much blood. She was probably already dead.
The other person was Sagura. He smiled viciously, playing idly with his long fingers nails and looking very pleased with himself. He was a tall man, not as large as Saemon, but no fragile thing. He wasn’t dressed modestly at the moment. He had a black cotton robe on that was tied at the waist, but there was blood on his stomach and thighs that Saemon could see and it made him sick.
”Well, well, mister hero came after all. And you are a big boy, aren’t you? Not as handsome as me I’m sure, but I can see why she liked you so much. I wonder though, what’s under that mask, eh Ryujin?” Sagura’s voice reminded him of a serpent. He dragged his s’s out too long and he spoke hushed, like he was telling a secret. Saemon found it hard to speak, as if there was something around his throat so he didn’t force it for the time being.
Sagura seemed happy to speak in his stead, rising up and walking from his chair to a table where he poured himself some wine. ”I’d offer you some, but I don’t think you’d want it. It’s... a special brew you see.” his eyes flicked over to Ashia, who twitched lightly in her bonds. Saemon could guess what was in the wine that made it redder than violet hued and felt his stomach jump when the male turn a sip.
Delicately, he replaced the glass back onto the stand and turned to regard Saemon with a serious expression. One man looked at another, neither spoke. Sagura’s face took on an ugly expression, one that reflected the horrible person he was within. There was hatred in his eyes, a deep hatred that Saemon hadn’t earned yet was smothered with all the same. He hated him, what he was, and how he was sent to kill him.
It was his RIGHT to do what he did. Angrily, he stomped over and reached out. Saemon could not move as the mask was ripped from his face and tossed to the ground. Dull blue eyes met enraged, pale gray ones. His face was hardened, then just as suddenly, softened. He looked at Saemon like a man looked as his pet or a loved child and long fingers stroked the side of his scruffy face. ”You left her you know.”
Saemon’s brow creased at his words. He knew he meant Ashia but why did his mind jump to Koho? His guilt needed to leave him be in a time like this, so why did he think of her?
It was because his mind was not his own right now. Sagura was able to tap into his thoughts and take out what he wanted from him. The eye contact had let him dig into the deepest misery of Saemon’s conscience and draw it out. Sagura moved to the side and waved his hand out toward the X shaped rack, but instead of Ashia, Koho was there.
Her body was torn, as if she’d been whipped. Chunks of her fancy dress were ripped away and she was left indecently uncovered. Her usually updone, red hair was drooped down before her face and blood was dripping from everywhere.
His body shook, seeing her like this, trembled like a leaf and his eyes were wide. He wanted to speak, call out to her, but his voice would not come. Instead his lips parted and formed her name silently. Yet she’d heard him.
Slowly, as a sloth, she raised her head. The flood of red hair parted along either side of her pale face like a waterfall of sunlight. The limp locks were matted with blood along the front and her face… oh no her face!
Long scratches had been drawn through her skin, from neck to forehead. Skin was split, exposing bone and muscle issue. One of her eyes was cut so it was blinded and her lips were seeping blood. Her one good eye spotted Saemon and it began to cry, weeping tears of misery and suffering. When her mouth parted, blood poured from it like a river and doused her front. Her voice barely worked because her neck had also been slit from ear to ear. But what she said to Saemon… it cut like a knife. ”You betrayed me, Saemon. You’re a monster… you left me… You did this to me!”
He cried out silently as her eye rolled back into her skull and life left her. Tears escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He could not stop them, even if he’d tried.
He closed his eyes tight, squeezing them closed as to not see her form anymore. But Sagura would not allow it. His fingers left Saemon’s face and his footsteps walked away, making soft, padding sounds on the floor. ”Keep looking… Saemon.” he said, his voice farther away. He knew his name now. ”Look at me, or I’ll make you watch her die again… and again…”
He was at his man’s mercy. Pain and rage filled Saemon like a beast, the monster he was, but he was helplessly chained by the unseen force. And as Sagura’s eyes met his once more, his torment would continue.
He had seen all he needed to know about Saemon and Mio appeared next. She was clean, beautiful and smiling, even though she too was attached to the X rack, as Ashia and Koho were before her. Her long hair was flowing like there was a breeze in the air and she looked about as if she were seeing a place different than this.
But her smile faded and pain crossed her exotic features. It was not like the pain of bodily harm, but of something within your own mind eating at you, harming you. Memories, and her past.. they haunted her like a living thing. Fear crept over her and she tried to shy away from the unseen. The sanity was leaving her eyes and before long, they took on another shape. They looked like an animal’s eyes. They grew slotted and golden hued.
Then physical pain started. Her scream was terrible. It resounded along the room, reverberating through the panels and shook him to his core. Terror, agony… consumed then monstrous. Something was within her, eating her from the inside. She cried and begged, then… she screamed his name before the beast tore from her belly. It crawled from her with long arms and clawed hands. She called to Saemon to save her, but he could not. He pulled against his binds, pulled and strained, but they would not give.. and like before he could not speak.
He called to her, but there was no sound. Mio was consumed, and instead of her was a creature, a nightmare. She was gone, but the black creature remained. Saemon wanted to see no more. He closed his eyes against it again.
Yet Sagura was not finished with him. There was one more, and he knew it would come, how could it not?
Her voice was sweet as honey as it spoke his name. A gentle, intimate caress. ”Saemon.” she said. Kitanai was there. She was not bound as the others had been. Mio’s nightmare was gone, like Koho and Ashia. Sagura was standing there too, watching. Kitanai dressed in silk. Her hair was short and wavy and her rounded belly was gone, replaced with flat abs as before he’d gotten her pregnant.
She came so close to Saemon, he could smell the vanilla of her body, though it was muted somehow and fake. She smiled at him, seductively then reached out to touch him. Experienced, slim hands touched his chest, ran down his stomach and caressed his hips. ”What’s mine is mine, Saemon.” she said softly, uttering his own mantra at him. He looked at her face, her beautiful, smooth face and felt such pain. What would happen to her, like Mio and Koho? And where was his baby? He begged her with his eyes to vanish, to leave before she could be hurt too, but she did not care.
Her smile grew wicked and she walked away from him. She dropped her robe, revealing her perfect frame to him from the back. Both hands came up to caress up her body, stopping only when they were reaching up to the sky.
A shadow formed at her side in the shape of a man. Hands roamed her body, cupped her backside and the head nestled into the side of her neck. The face took the form of Toushin, who ignored Saemon’s immediate hatred. His hands touched her, caressed her in ways to make her respond and wiggle in delight. Then another body formed at her other side. He too was tall, and when his face formed, he was beautifully carved as if Mother Suna had crafted him, herself. It was Muji, his brother in arms who he had let touch Koho in these ways, but not Kitanai.
She responded by tipping her head toward him and kissing the man’s lips with passion and desire. Toushin to her right, Onamuji to her left. Hands roamed and explored, touching what was his and she accepted it happily.
And a final body formed before her. The face looked over her shoulder, right at Saemon. Roku... his brother. His teeth were gritted so hard he was afraid he might break them.
He wanted to turn away, but Sagura’s first threat lingered there. So he was forced to watch as each man had his way with Kitanai and then again. She welcomed it, wanted it. When they were done and she was filthy with what remained on her body, the men left into the shadows and Kitanai collected a bundle at her feet.
Naked, she approached Saemon once more, who hung defeated and raw. He did not want to see what she was bringing him. He could not look away, for the bundle was white and was stained with red.
He thought there was nothing left to bring him to his knees, nothing left to destroy him with, but he was wrong. Kitanai opened the bundle and let the heap of red meat and chunks fall to the ground at his feet. ”I didn’t want this one. I kept Toushin’s, but this was the leftovers. You can do what you want with that, okay? I love you, Saemon.” she said sweetly, then leaned in and kissed his lips.
They tasted like nothing, he felt nothing. Everything he loved and feared for had been literally shoved in his face. He closed his eyes and she vanished. The whole room vanished except for Sagura, who was standing nearby, smiling. He was pleased and approached Saemon was a skip in his step. His toothy grin was so close to Saemon’s face, he could smell the man’s breath. It was bloody and grape.
He hated him, more than he hated anyone before. The man could see it and started to laugh. ”Your face it so funny right now, Saemon! You should see it!” He continued to laugh, his eyes closing with mirth.
But Saemon had come to realize early in this was a Genjutsu. These things were his fears and could not be happening as they did now and it was visual Genjutsu that Sagura had instigated with peering into his eyes.
The monster pulled against his invisible binds harder and harder until the blunted edge cut into his flesh. Blood, the pain of a wound like that could snap a man from the Genjutsu once he realized he was within one. Sagura was so sure Saemon was defeated, broken and unable to move that when the wires finally snapped from his strength, he seemed utterly surprised to feel the hand around his throat. The surprise turned to fear as it clamped down hard enough to crush.
He had made such a mistake. The mistake would mean his end. But… but… this man wasn’t going to die, no, Saemon didn’t want him to die yet. So his other hand came up swiftly and with purpose and plucked both of his eyes from his head.
Screaming Sagura fell to the floor, holding his face. He was defeated in one movement. Everything he relied on was gone, in Saemon’s hand then crushed into paste and dropped to the floor behind his wriggling body.
-----------present, back in Suna------------
The trip back home was much harder. His mind was still reeling from what he had experienced and because he had to bring a prisoner back with him. Blind and crying all the way back.
He had dropped him off at the prison then went home to sleep for a week if he could.
Ashia hadn’t died from the experience, but she hadn’t been unharmed. She was almost dead when he got to her, but brought her back to her town. For his aid, the people there were more than helpful in revealing some information he needed on a few names and Ashia herself promised to send him letters regarding Wakahisa Kiroshi and Hanami if she heard anything about them.
In fact he hadn’t gone home empty handed on that matter anyway. Hanami and Kiroshi were names Ashia knew. They had lived in this town only 2 years back and it was rumored they had moved to another country, possible Tea Country. They had friends who traveled to the island country often, so they could find out more for Saemon and tell him when they found anything.
Thing was, they were alive, or at least had been two years ago. This is news he would have to tell Mio… after he got some sleep.
WC: 5506