The Endless Web [Requesting Raizo]

[Mikaboshi]

Takahashi Sousuke (?)​

Standing alone in the Kazekage's office, the Steward peered out the large windows and looked down upon the city of Sunagakure. It had been some time since he'd viewed the village from this perspective but it was certainly not the first time. He had been absent the Tower for months but no one on the staff of the Tower thought to challenge the coming of the Steward or ask what his intent was in his ascent towards the office of the Kazekage. After all, Takahashi Sousuke was the Steward-- formerly the Steward-Kazekage. This was almost as much his tower as it was Raizo's for how long he had been the one to occupy it as the village's leader.

He wore a sleak suit of steel armor with a mostly featureless helmet that obscured his features behind a visage of gleaming chrome, punctuated only by a grimacing frown of unmoving metal and a pair of eyes that burned bright with lenses that were backlit by a green effulgence. Matching the color of the lights that shone behind his eyes, the Steward wore a hooded mantle of deep forest green that wrapped about his shoulders and swept down the length of his body, enshrouding his extremities behind a screen of mystery. Sweeping the length of his cloak back, the Steward placed his hands behind his back and clasped his fingers together as he abided in patience for the arrival of the Eleventh Kazekage, Ryuzaki Raizo. When he'd briefly interacted with a young man sitting at the front desk, he had been very specific with his instructions:

"The Steward has returned and would like to speak with you in your office."

How would Raizo respond to receiving such a summons? Would he be confused? Curious? Indignant? It was time to take the measure of the man, at last.

 

[Raizo]

It had been a long time since he had last gotten a chance to speak with Sousuke, but it was always a welcome interaction when they did manage to find time. He wasn't sure what the Steward might have wanted, as their communication had seemed all but silent here recently. He simply took that as Sousuke's blessing to 'keep doing what you are doing' or maybe that the Takahashi clansman was simply enjoying a moment out of the spotlight. He had heard that not only did Sousuke live through some trying times but that his tenure as Steward and Steward-Kazekage was full of adventures and obstacles. Giving him rest seemed like the least he could do.

Entering his office, he would joyfully spout out

"Sousuke! What might you have on your mind this evening?"

Upon his face would be his trademark smile, one that seemed to consume the entirety of his face. He would bow to his friend before heading over to the liquor cabinet.

"Want a drink or afraid it might rust you up?"

Chuckling a bit to himself he would grab two classes but would only fill up one for himself for the time being.

 

[Mikaboshi]

The Steward turned silently and with purposefully slow speed as the Kazekage entered the office, preferring to allow Raizo the right to break the silence between them.

"Darkened thoughts and darker dreams consume my quiet moments." Rumbled the deeply metallic and nearly emotionless voice of the Steward as he turned back to gaze once more out the window over the garden of lights that populated the calm night of the inner city. If there had been one thing that Sousuke and Mikaboshi shared, it had been their love of the dramatic. "The hour grows late, Lord Raizo. Things are not as they were, nor are they like to ever be that way again."

Wind Country had never been a hospitable place for humanity. Even after throwing off the yoke of their oppression at the hands of Ancient-kind, the desert proved more than a formidable adversary on its own and that was before one began to factor in the other denizens of the region. It was a part of the world that seemed to resist being tamed by the hands of humanity at every turn, an environment that seemed to constantly evolve in new and threatening ways to menace the goodly people of Wind Country. This remained true in the recent years but a calm had fallen over the land of Wind that had been unprecedented in the many eras that had come before it. For the first time in many decades, humanity did not find itself besieged by beasts or monsters or disaster and in the absence of those cataclysms mankind managed to find a new adversary; itself.

"Know you of what I speak?"

 

[Raizo]

He would finish pouring his drink, and take a sip, before finally responding.

"Why can it never be just a straightforward chat with you, Sousuke?! It's always cryptic message this, sagely wisdom that... you can just speak you mind!"

This was his confrontational way of saying "no, I don't know what you mean, just tell me". Sousuke had always tried to have conversations like this, and while he felt like overtime he had started to wear down the metallic man, it would seem that during their absences in talking, he would have reverted back to his old ways.

Is this the result of him being cooped up in his residence all this time... should I visit him more???

Letting out a sigh he would take his drink and plop down on a sofa within the middle of the room.

"So, go head, explain. I know you always tell me off the tumultuous history of Suna, how it is like this place is cursed, but from what I've seen so far this is a plucky little village with spirit and a lot of good attitude. The foe who was actively working against you, the previous Daimyo, is gone, the Swarm has seemingly disappeared, the village seems to be running rather smoothly."

It wasn't hard to pick up, even if it was the wrong assumption, but it seemed the people of the village had this weird defense mechanism engrained into them; they couldn't just accept things being good or calm, there always was this presumed threat. While he didn't dismiss the notion, clearly they had suffered a lot, it was still a bit much from a outsider looking in, especially for one trying to get acclimated to life as a Sunan as well.

"Come over here take a seat and join me, it's been a long day and with Yukina out... I've had to take on the brunt of the busy work. I'm sure you know all about that, heck, you probably never had an attendant to help you as much as I do... so I am probably sounding like a little baby, huh? Hahaha!"

His laughter would ring out as he motioned for the metal suited man to join him, pointing towards a comfy looking chair adjacent to the sofa he sat upon. Taking another sip he would smirk to himself as he waited.

 

[Mikaboshi]

Silence. The Steward made no move to join Raizo in the sitting arrangement nor did he spare the Kazekage even a glance to see where a seat had been offered. Instead the grim visage of his steel mask stayed pointedly faced towards the glass of the window that looked out over Sunagakure. After a while of silence, he finally spoke again but the words he had were distinctly impersonal when compared to the warmth of the greeting that had been offered by Raizo.

"Do you truly believe that the immortal Ishii Shiro is gone for all time?" The Steward posited, continuing to look out through the window without looking back to where Raizo had motioned for him to come and sit. "And what of his benefactors, the shinobi of Sound Village?"

Despite the well-maintained heating and ventilation system of the Kazekage Tower, the temperature of the room steadily began to drop at a nearly imperceptibly slow plac.

"Even of your own realm, you know precious little. Know you that the Regent Lords of Ancient-kind have already convened a convocation to vote upon making war with you? Your list of foes grows with each passing year. Running smoothly, indeed."

Finally, the Steward's head turned to regard Raizo once more... but gone was the softly glowing green of the mask's electronics; replaced instead by a burning gold color that was tinged with flickers of red.

"Tell me, Lord Raizo. If a threat were to present itself, would you even recognize it for what it is?"

 

[Raizo]

"You know, Sousuke would have been funnier with his dismissal of the drink offer" he would say from the sofa.

There weren't any true red flags at first, and he honestly just assumed that Sousuke was just acting up, again he was hard to read. But while he was hard to read, he wasn't impossible. He had shared enough conversations with the man upon entering the village that eventually a fraudulent version of himself would slip up. What concerned him, however, was how effective at being Sousuke this imposter was, and how long he probably could have maintained it. Yet, there was a gamble to it all, what if this just was Sousuke and he was having a moment? What if the isolation, retirement, and years of fighting a constant battle had finally broken the man to the point of this? But it never hurt to just take a guess sometimes, if nothing else he could always play it off if the Steward was truly the Steward.

"You have his mannerism down, though, and you matched his appearance... so you know him rather well" That was really the intriguing part, "and while he is cryptic as all heck, a weird habit I keep running into in this village with people, he doesn't do one thing that you just couldn't let go; he doesn't call me Lord Raizo. See--" he would take a sip of his drink before continuing, "I think it's because he saw himself as more of a father or uncle figure to me, and my process of joining the village. I assume some might consider it talking down, but I actually liked it. He was one of the few people here that just talked to me like a human."

While the temperature would get colder and the fiery eyes of the imposter would now bare down on him, whether it was because he was a fool or because he held belief, his attitude would not change. His body would respond, however, with the hair on his arms and neck pricking up as his muscles tensed. His body, in these moments, would also do another action that would seem rather random; it would begin to generate an aura that was a mixture of warmth and a holy vibrance [Exalted - White Blessing and Blessed Chakra]. His natural chakra felt angelic, and all of his attacks in battle felt divine, felt blessed. If this world was full of curses, then he was the polar opposite of their existence. A counterpoint to them.

"Depends, I guess... are you the threat or just here to test me?"

He wasn't sure why, but something within him, almost like his very DNA, was screaming out to him.

Could it be Legatus' hunger?

 

[Mikaboshi]

"I have been loose in the halls of your keep for well into my second hour" Reflected the faux Sousuke. If he was in any way perturbed or put off of his game by Raizo discerning the truth of his deception it was not reflected in the manner of his speech or the deliberate nature of his body language.

"I have passed security checkpoints; penetrated deeply into sanctums surely designed only for the presence of your agents."

Finally, as though he were bored with wearing the countenance of the Steward, the imposter lifted his gloved fingers to his face and motioned as though he were lightly dragging his fingers across the smooth surface of the steel mask covering his face. At each point where the tips of his fingers might have been touching the mask, the face plate distorted and lifted away briefly before disintegrating into verdant green and charcoal black ashes revealing the features of a handsome young man with a confident, broad smile and bright eyes that implied an odd amalgamation of playful boredom and casual menace.

"If I had come to you with a mind for violence, the harm that I am capable of has already been done." He remarked as the hood of his cowl and the rest of the sorcerous disguise melted away to reveal a long white coat and casual clothing beneath-- certainly not the arms and armaments of a warrior, much less a shinobi. "What is that human saying? Ah, yes..."

His smirk broadened into a grin that showed far too many teeth; the look of a practiced predator discarding the wool of safety.

"I come in peace."

 

[Raizo]

"Ah... so is it... Mikaboshi?"

He wasn't sure, he had only seen the figure once before, at a party thrown to celebrate the ones known as Kasen and Kaen, but during that time the figure looked different and had a little entourage with him, but still came off just as flashy and self-indulgent.

"I get it, you are dark and menacing, Akkuma plays a similar card... and Sousuke did mention you have an odd relationship with people who serve as Kazekage, and I can respect the whole 'I'm not threatening you, because you'd be dead if I was' approach to first introductions-" he would then point to one of the adjacent seats, the kind that looked like they had pillows upholstered into them, from his spot on the sofa, "-but I'm not much of the game playing type. Have a seat and tell me what's on your mind..."

Pausing for a moment, he would scratch his chin before finally saying what he was thinking.

"You are Mikaboshi, right?"

People in this village either seemed to talk in riddles or not introduce themselves, either way, the customary habits, he had come to notice, in the village were poorly lacking. Even to the point that he found himself forgetting to introduce himself on the odd occasion.

When in Suna, huh?

"I assume you didn't just show up to shame the poor crew that operates the tower or security, so what is on your mind and how can I help?"

Seriously though, it just seems like most people can do whatever or go wherever they please, if I got shocked by that around here I would be catatonic by this point.

It was a genuine question. Call it youthful ignorance, call it faith in himself, call it flat-out dumb. It didn't matter how you cut it, but he chose to believe the face value of the words; if he had come here to hurt him he would have already done so. So then moving past the bluster of the figure, there was the core point remaining; he came here. Why did most come to his office? To talk. So it seemed like a fairly straightforward approach to get to, even with all the other trappings and drapings of the show around it.

Still, he was the type to bludgeon a person to get to the point. Magical shape-changing guests were no exception.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"I get it, you are dark and menacing, Akkuma plays a similar card... and Sousuke did mention you have an odd relationship with people who serve as Kazekage, and I can respect the whole 'I'm not threatening you, because you'd be dead if I was' approach to first introductions but I'm not much of the game playing type. Have a seat and tell me what's on your mind..."

"Ah, yes. The demon. I am familiar with his brand; an amateur that scarcely understands the game, much less the others who play it. You too are a player in this game of ours, whether you desire it or not."

As Raizo gestured to a seat to his flank, he would find Mikaboshi had already moved to occupy the seat and was no longer standing near the large window. How he'd gone from where he'd been standing to where he was now sitting wasn't entirely clear; he hadn't moved, Mikaboshi was not so swift that his movements were undetectable by someone of Raizo's skill.

"You are Mikaboshi, right?"

"You surmise correctly. I am  Lord Mikaboshi; master of the Gloaming Court, Eldest Shadow and Great Black Wolf." His reply had a slight correction to it, emphasis placed into the title of Lord. He was not king here in Sunagakure but of the deep places of the land-- a king that reigned over a kingdom unwanted by others but a king he none the less. "And you are Lord Ryuzaki Raizo, Eleventh Kazekage, Son of Legatus and the future Konungr of your clan."

Mikaboshi did not bear a grudge against the Ryuzaki Clan the way he did the Sunahoshi but he would have been a great fool if he were not at least aware of them. Their reputation for strength was significant and though it was rare to find men that lived up to their reputation, the mistake of underestimating men like Raizo was not one that Mikaboshi intended to repeat.

"It is past time that we were introduced, you and I. Your enemies gather in the dark of the night and as you may have heard from the erstwhile Steward-Kazekage, the dark is my domain. So, in truth, I have come to ask you to consider the opposite of your question. Perhaps you should consider; what can I do for you?"

 

[Raizo]

Oh he is a magic man

His juvenile thoughts would play through his head as Mikaboshi seemed to just appear in the chair next to him.

Someone is going to have to teach me that trick.

At this point, it still wasn't clear to him, again he cared more to be straightforward than to play mental games, which was a boon in most cases but did carry with it one big setback, just how the magic of the figure was being performed. Still, it was easier to surmise it had to do with being an ancient, and a full-blooded one at that. He had yet to meet such a creature before. Was it speed? Was it teleportation? Was such a thing possible? Was it something else entirely?

"Oh, not often people come in and ask me what I want. Legatus son-"

Ha, take that dad, you are replaced by our ancestor.

"-is honestly not a bad moniker to add to my collection. That said, what are you offering? I feel like your complicated history, one that Sousuke seemed more exhausted by than willing to explain, with the village, or at least its leaders, leads me to believe you are not the type I can just say 'lend me your blade in the upcoming battle' and expect you to be raring to go. So what is it, Lord Mikaboshi, can offer?"

He'd let out a bit of a sigh because he was becoming increasingly more aware of this type of individual. If it was weird children it was egomaniacs with devil's bargains, honestly, the population within Suna was rather troubling.

"And what might such services cost?"

Business wasn't his strongest suit, but the basic principles he adhered to were 'nothing free is ever free' and 'if it is worth you doing, it is worth you getting paid', so he figured keeping such things in mind would hold true for most business propositions.

 

[Mikaboshi]

"You are fortunate in that a confluence of events has transpired to align our interests."

There was a brief pause as Mikaboshi raised the cup of softly steaming drink in his hand and took a long sip from it before setting it back down on the saucer held in his other hand. From where had he obtained the drink? The longer the conversation went on, the strange and sudden occurrences continued to pile up. Little oddities that if one were telling a story might constitute a plot hole but in this moment of reality proved no less real than the air they were breathing.

"Your predecessor paid me a service for which I am still indebted and it so happens that the greatest threats to me are the selfsame threats that face your kingdom. Like it or not, we will be allies in the doom to come. In this there is no debate; only reality, such as it is."

Another long sip, enough of one that it should have seemed like there could not possibly have been that much drink contained within the small unremarkable porcelain tea cup and yet still, small clouds of steam wafted up out of the cup. He'd been surprisingly straight forward, given the creature's reputation for duplicity, but he had also declined to be specific about what the service that had been rendered was or in what manner Mikaboshi was repaying that debt.

"No, I have not come to set terms." Not yet, at least. If Raizo had proven weak or unworthy, this would have been a very different conversation. "Only to take the measure of Sunagakure's new monarch in person. Second hand information can only tell one so much, after all."

 

[Raizo]

Something was off, but it was still small things. Teleportation, if he had such an ability, could have also been used to produce the strange drink.

Figure out the trick, and maybe we can mimic it. If it is either physical or chakra-based, it just takes learning the premise to figure out the technique.

"Can I ask you a question, and I do not mean this to be rude, as you are the first non-history lesson or bedtime story Ancient I have met... but are you obligated to talk like that? You've been around humans for so long yet you talk in a manner that is... well, ancient. Is it who you are? Part of an act? A learned behavior from your time spent with Sousuke? I am very curious--I mean what if I meet another of your kind? I'd hate to embarrass myself by looking foolish in not fully understanding or appreciating the very exquisite way your kind speaks."

This was twofold. On one hand, he just wanted to keep Mikaboshi talking and was curious about something else. On the other hand, he just legitimately wanted to check if that is how Ancients talked. It was kind of funny, kind of snobby, and yet from the history books that seemed to fit the mold of the formerly oppressive ruling class of the sands. Or was this merely the appearance that Mikaboshi had grown accustomed to? Was this a style choice, a way of life, or just for his own amusement?

"So what's the doom? Someone else came to my doorstep not too long before you also espoused 'doom' talk... but much like you very scant on details." this was a lie, Michi had been overly forthcoming with her words, "As I am sure you are already aware, the better informed I am, the better I can lead my side of this arrangement, and the better we both will fair in the long term."

Something was starting to gnaw at him. The drink had now become more of a fixture in his gaze than it should have been. Maybe it was because he offered a drink, and while it was never actually refused it was also never actually taken up, or maybe it was because he hadn't put on anything warm to drink in the office. Did Mikaboshi break in and start making his own warmed beverage?

Hmmmm...

The hamster wheel was turning, but there was still a little bit more he needed first. If he wasn't able to ascertain from that, or even get what was needed, he would take a little bit more of a drastic choice.