Private Dark Dealings (Req Keiyaku)

[Kiriyomi]

Kiriyomi stood in his apartment, mask in hand, trying to decide what to do. The last time that he had seen Keiyaku, he had been trying to tear Kiri's face off. He still didn't quite understand what had caused his friend to act like that, but he knew that it was his duty to tell Kei what had happened to Kino. So he dressed in his usual ANBU attire, donned his mask, and slipped out the window of his apartment and out into the streets, Active Camo in place so that he wouldn't be seen. As he made his way towards ANBU HQ, he wondered how he was going to go about finding Kei. He knew that his code name was Jackal, so he supposed he could just go around asking after him.

Arriving at the mine shaft, Kiri hopped into the cart and pulled the lever. As the cart took off down the tracks, he ran through the Snapshot once again. The only other Dark Sage that he knew of in the village was Akira, and he seemed to match the description that Kino had given him, but would he really be so reckless as to give someone a cursed seal like that? Surely not. The boy that Kiri knew was kind and soft spoken, a gentle soul that was just trying to find his place in the world. Surely Kino was mistaken, or someone used a transformation jutsu to look like Akira. Why someone would choose him, well, that was the question wasn't it? Hopefully Keiyaku would be able to help him figure out the tangled web of what had actually occurred.

Arriving at the end of the line, Kiri jumped out of the mine cart and began wandering the inner halls of the HQ, letting his mind drift as he did so. There weren't any other operatives around that he could see, so he cast out his senses to check for any chakra signatures around. As he did, he felt a familiar one and followed the thread to an office door. Arriving at it, he cocked his head to the side, but knocked anyway. He wasn't sure if Jackal was waiting inside this office for someone else, or if there was someone with him that was hiding their chakra signature, so he thought it best to be polite rather than barging in demanding to speak with Kei.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

"You know, I thought, maybe, in the higher ranks, there'd be a little more.... side action, you know?"

Confining an Inuzuka to a desk was comparable to locking a puppy with the zoomies inside a crate, but discipline could do wonderful things. Jackal sat at his desk, Tanuki standing over him, in Beast Clone form so that they appeared identical. The newly appointed Captain was working on a report - a cursory glance at the document suggested it was to do with some kind of terrorist incident, an act of arson. Tanuki gave a little growl.

"I know, I know. One step at a time. I think I just need to buy a Peace Lily or something for this place..."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Tanuki turned to face the door as the second echoed through the room. Ever paranoid and cautious these days, he pushed the door open, snarling at the visitor rather standoffishly. He stopped. He sniffed. He stood back and allowed the ANBU agent entry. Jackal stood, regarding the agent. The office was pretty small - as with every other room in this place, it looked as though it had been carved out of a cave wall, but it was comfortable enough. A small wooden desk with a comfortable chair, and just about enough room to stretch your legs. Curiously, the floor was lined with grass, as though turf had been transplanted from outside, and the room had a pleasant floral scent. It was a little muddy too.

Slitted eyes peering at the agent from behind the wolfish mask, Jackal seemed to be concentrating for a moment. His eyes looked hollow and baggy, devoid of the joie de vivre they once held. He took a step closer, leaned in so that he was perhaps two inches from the other agent's mask, and took several sniffs. He would recognise that scent anywhere.

"Ah, ya made it!"

Jackal seemed genuinely happy, his voice flavoured with pride as he looked the Aburame up and down appraisingly, from his sandals all the way up to his plain feline mask. Hm, the assassin.

"Codename? What did you choose for yourself?"

The Inuzuka took a step back, perching himself on the edge of the desk, and folding his arms. A sudden realisation dawned on him, his posture sagging a little as it did. The taste of blood suddenly hit the back of his throat as the memory swam to the forefront of his mind... the taste of human flesh... Fuck... There was no avoiding the topic forever, but that didn't mean it couldn't be postponed.

 

[Kiriyomi]

As Tanuki swung the door open and began snarling at him, Kiriyomi simply leveled a flat gaze upon the other operative. He wasn't sure why he was being greeted in such a fashion, but it was not appreciated at all. He was here on official business, and didn't have time to deal with a pup throwing a temper tantrum. Glancing past Tanuki, he saw Jackal stand and take in his appearance. As he did so, Kiri glanced around the office. It appeared to be a pretty standard office from what little he had seen down here, carved from the cave around them, but there was actually grass on the floor. That puzzled him for a moment as he stepped into the room, standing aside so that the door could be closed behind him.

When he lifted his gaze back up, Jackal had moved closer to him, staring at him intently. He immediately took in the hollow eyes, wondering what had happened to dim the light that once danced behind them. Perhaps whatever curse he was dealing with was slowly eating away at his energy? Maybe Kiri could find something to help. He hated to see his friend like this, almost as though the joy of life had left him and the sorrows of the world had been thrust upon his shoulders. Standing perfectly still as Jackal sniffed him, he gave a small smirk at the happiness in the other man's voice.

"Yea. Corvus gave me a crash course exam in how ANBU operates, and I apparently did fairly well. I took up the name Mantis. They are experts at hiding themselves in plain sight, as the Assassination branch requires, and are also excellent hunters in the world of insects." Kiri watches the other man's body language, noticing his shoulders sagging as if something unpleasant had crossed his mind. "I must say, I didn't expect you to have your own office. I was rather surprised when I followed your chakra signature and ended up outside that door. I thought that I would find you talking to one of the captains or to Corvus himself. How... how have you been?"

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

As Mantis stepped into the room, Jackal and Tanuki locked eyes. Both men stepped closer to each other, exchanging a series of growls and grunts. An Inuzuka and his Ninken speaking in their mother tongue may seem, to an outsider, as a primitive form of sniping, but the two of them, in fact, were having an incredibly sophisticated discussion. Tanuki shot his big brother a filthy look before turning away. There was a puff of smoke, and where the figure of a masked man had stood, was now a Shiba dog who settled down into the grass, closing his eyes with a little irritated huff.

Jackal looked back up at Mantis, running his hand through his hair which had grown rather shaggy and unkempt. Clearly, there was tension between the two brothers at the moment.

"Mantis," Jackal repeated with a nod, "heh, yeah, very spot-on, I think. I didn't invigilate your exam myself; obviously, that was Corvus-sensei, but I did read the report. Your means of disposal, without leaving behind DNA evidence... ingenious."

He gave an approving nod, a look of curiosity in his eyes as if wondering what other stealthy feats the Aburame's Kikai could accomplish. Oh, Mantis would be quite the asset. But then, the conversation became a little more personal...

"Well... I've not had the office long. Corvus-sensei saw fit to promote me to Captain. Currently, we are investigating a... for lack of a better term, a terrorist organisation that has already struck Konoha quite sorely," Jackal explained, his voice cracking a little on 'Konoha', "it's eatin' up a lot of my time, but... that's life, right?"

There was a very raw pain in his voice, but he didn't elaborate.

As Mantis asked about how he'd been, he turned away from the man, suddenly sheepish about looking him in the eye. Instead, he strode to a calendar that hung right by the door, where, highlighted in orange marker, were the words 'Full Moon', written on a square around ten days from now. Jackal traced it, pensively, with a clawed finger. He turned back to Mantis suddenly.

"I... I owe you an apology. What happened between you, me, and Shusuke... It wasn't meant to go that way. We had orders to test out your skills carefully, to see if you'd be a good fit. But then, the moon came up, and I.... well... you remember. I have a handle on it now, though. All I have to do is lock myself in one of the underground cells when the Full Moon comes around, and I can't hurt nobody. But... yeah... man, I am crazy sorry about trying to hurt you. I hope there's no hard feelings. Do you think you could forgive me?"

Jackal offered his hand to Mantis to shake, a slightly sheepish look in his eyes, like he'd had this issue pressing on him for a long time.

"I'm a werewolf, to be politically correct, and you'd be surprised how often I gotta tell people I'm sorry these days."

Strange... He thought it'd feel much better to come clean to Mantis, to tell him how sorry he was, to try to make amends for what had happened... It seemed to just cement the guilt in further.

"How've you been, though? Corvus-sensei made you a full agent! You must be pretty thrilled."

 

[Kiriyomi]

Mantis stood there as the two Inuzuka spoke to each other in their more primitive language, eyes locked on Jackal. After a few moments, there was a poof, and Tanuki had transformed back into being a Shiba who then lay down on the grass where he had been standing. He cut a quick glance over, noting how he had grown since they had last met. He felt kind of guilty for not thinking ahead to bring a treat for Tanuki. While he was an ANBU operative, he was still a puppy in Mantis's eyes.

Stepping back to lean against the wall, Mantis listened to Jackal as he complimented him on his method of disposing of the target that he was given during his entrance exam. Mantis's eyes went cold at the mention, not allowing any emotion to show on his face.

"Well, it was a technique that I discovered myself when I was younger. It proved useful then, preventing the rogue from calling out to his allies in the forest. So I decided that it would be the best way to eliminate the target given to me, without alerting anyone else nearby to what was happening."

Jackal went on to explain that the office was new, that Corvus-sensei had promoted him directly to Captain. His eyes went wide as he took another look around the room. Jackal had been in ANBU for longer than he, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he would have been promoted already. But there was something in the tone of Jackal's voice that had Mantis snapping his eyes back up to stare at the other man, as if trying to decipher what he wasn't saying. The cracking in the other man's voice and the pain behind the words weren't lost on Mantis, but he didn't push for details. What was more concerning was the fact that there was a terrorist organization in Konoha. Perhaps he would be given a mission soon to begin taking out members before they could cause too much damage to the village. His fist clenched by his side as he thought of the potential damage that they could wreak, ready to leap into action and eradicate anyone who thought to harm the village.

As Jackal turned around and walked to the wall, Mantis flicked his eyes over the other's shoulder and glanced at the calendar. For some reason he had marked the full moon, and was tracing it with a finger. Dread pooled in his stomach as he recalled the beast that Jackal had turned into, and the thought of what might have befallen him had Corvus-sensei not arrived in time to subdue the beast. Jackal quickly turned around and explained what had happened, and how he would prevent the beast from harming others.

Mantis stood there a moment, staring at the offered hand, and back up into Jackal's eyes. It looked as though this had been bothering him for some time. Mantis understood that people made mistakes, hell knows he had made a few himself, so he reached out and clasped Jackal's hand and shook it.

"Hey. No harm, no foul. We all knew how dangerous the life of a shinobi was when we entered the Academy, risking our lives daily to protect the village. I just hadn't expected someone I knew to potentially become a threat, but you didn't harm anyone. As you say, you have it under control now. That is all that mattes."

Mantis took a moment to consider Jackal's last question. While he was excited to be a full-fledged member, it came with a lot of responsibilities. Keeping secrets from his loved ones, working in the shadows, and risking his life every time that a mission came his way.

"Well, to be honest, I've been better and worse. It is not easy lying to my family about my job, especially given the dangers and how my father was killed working a 'safe' position within the village. However, I have never been more proud to call myself a citizen of Konoha. I would gladly lay my life on the line for anyone in this village. I was rather surprised by the promotion, given how little experience I had with the branch before meeting you and Shusuke in the forest that day. So yes, I'm thrilled to be a full agent. Hopefully I can help you with this terrorist organization once you find out more about them. But... That's going to have to wait. I actually came here with a purpose in mind. You know that boy in the Byoin that you were visiting?"

Mantis would briefly explain his reason for visiting Kino in the hospital, and with permission, would share his Snapshot of the visit. He would then tell Jackal of his suspicions that Akira was the Dark Sage that had cursed Jackal's pupil, and suggested that they go and have a conversation with the young man.

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

Mantis' forgiveness was worth anything to him in this current situation, and so, when it was given, and he felt the reassuring embrace of the other man's hand around his, it lifted a great weight from his shoulder. Jackal's mask wobbled a little, as though he were smiling behind it, and a little bit of life seemed to come back into his eyes. His main concern was less for his own interpersonal relationships, and more for the fact, that he wanted to make sure he could eliminate, as much as possible, any barriers to trust and open communication that could potentially bite him in the ass in a crucial moment. ANBU missions weren't exactly known for being like family bake sales.

As the topic changed, he slightly regretted bringing up the pursuit he had been chasing. As the 'terrorist organisation' was mentioned, the ANBU's eyes seemed to darken again, any trace of frivolity dying behind his eyes. Still, it was crucial all of his agents were as highly informed as possible. Ever since his first branch mission, he had never taken for granted the benefit of having a highly stratified intelligence network, and making sure your colleagues were as informed as possible.

"Well, suffice it to say, when we have more information, I may be calling on you specifically for your particular expertise," he said a little darkly, crossing the room again to lean on his desk. He seized quickly upon the change on subject.

"Yes, your promotion. I made sure to put in a good word with Corvus-sensei. Shusuke and I both recommended you be brought right in; I mean, not only did you handle two mysterious strangers threatening your family, and also fending me off during my time of the month..."

Tanuki immediately perked his head up and woofed quietly.

"Bad choice of words, sorry. Not only those two, but the way you acquitted yourself so aptly during your mask choosing. It'd be silly to bring you in as a cadet. Trust me, we don't see the confidence we have in you as misplaced."

The Inuzuka spoke pretty flatly, his voice independent of emotion, like everything he was saying about Mantis should be immediately obvious. There was curiosity in his eyes too, like he was looking forward to seeing how the two of them worked side by side on a mission.

The boy in the Byo- Oh, yes, Tanatsu Kino," said Jackal, nodding in understanding, figuring he probably had a pretty good idea why that particular name was being brought up now, "I think I know what you're thinking. I'm aware of his... condition."

When Mantis said it, there was a great sadness in his eyes, a great regret. For him, it really was as though he had gone back in time, attempted to prevent his own condition from being inflicted upon him, and failed miserably. History had repeated itself as far as he is concerned.

"I am... well, attempting to teach him how to best control it. I believe my own strategies I use to handle my condition can probably be adapted for his use too. But, somehow, I'm guessing this isn't the entire reason you've come here, just to tell me about the Curse Mark?"

Jackal leaned forward slightly, an inquisitive gleam in his eye.

"You're poking around to see where he got it from, I would guess? Well? Copper's hunch?"

 

[Inuzuka Keiyaku]

~Topic Left for obvious reasons. Rest in peace, buddy. I'll miss you a lot~