Spooky Spoopy Sus [P]

Mission:

Ayumi sat on the rooftop as she glances over the bustling street just below her. It was quite late but the village was still lively. Don't these people ever sleep? she thought to herself before pulling her knees under her chin. Hugging her legs, the kunoichi stared off into space, a habit of hers. She was assigned to another mission the night. This time around, only one of her teammates would be tagging along: Sento. How about the other two, you may ask... Well, let's not talk about the other two.

A few minutes passed before the jounin sat up. Scooching over to the edge of the rooftop, she leapt off of it and gracefully landed on the ground. Fishing a lollipop out of her pouch, the girl unwrapped it before popping it in her mouth. Shortly after, she would leave the scene—it was time; Ayumi turned on her heel and walked away, heading to a deserted district of the village, the venue for the night.

The pitter patter of footsteps echoed down the empty streets of Konoha. Followed by this was the appearance of Ayumi, dressed comfortably in a white sweater and a pair of shorts; a weird combination, but it didn't matter. Leaning against the nearest wall, the girl gazed at the night sky, filled with twinkling stars.

As sento made his way through the crowded streets of Konoha he’d let out a rhythmic whistle that went along with a children's song his father had often made while roaming around the house. Sento liked to imagine that his father had picked it up from his mother, but had never built up the courage to ask. Now this tune often found itself leaving his mouth in memory of his recently deceased father.

Taking note of the time he’d notice that it was already nightfall, and as usual a vast amount of stars shined in the night sky. It was an undeniably beautiful view, The young senju had a bit of an obsession with nature and adventure, and looking at the stars always made him feel small in what appeared to be an infinite universe. There was still so much traveling left to do for the shinobi race. And he intended to take part in at least some of it, He figured running missions for the hidden leaf was the best way he had available to reach such a goal.

Snapping his yellow eyes away from the black sky pelted with an infinite number of stars he’d refocus his eyes to ground level and back into the streets of Konoha, he had a feeling he was reaching his destination and his gut was hardly ever wrong. Standing at a height of six feet his gaze reached easily over the people in the street, and he could make out the image of his sensei on the other side of the road. Gently maneuvering through the crowd he’d emerge on the same side before politely tipping his head and greeting Ayumi.

“Sensei.”

WC: 280

Stars. Stars. Stars. "Sensei." Yes, Sensei.

Wait.. what?

Pushing herself off of the wall upon Sento's arrival, the kunoichi greeted the male with the usual nod. Tipping her head in the direction of the street ahead, it was a signal directed towards the boy, telling him to follow her. Usually, she would have gone alone on such a simple mission. All she had to do was walk around the area, an easy job. Yes, it may be a little scary to walk around at night in an abandoned district, but hey, a mission is a mission after all. Well, what made her call her teammates, you'd ask? Simple; the experience. Going on missions allow shinobi to gain experience. In turn, one could use that experience and apply it to other future scenarios. In addition to experience, one would also be rewarded with a monetary value. So, in essence, it is a win-win situation. However, that night, it was only Sento who tagged along. No Kirino, and no Kisuke. Oh well. Slowing the pace of her light footsteps, Ayumi made sure that the boy was nearby before talking. 

"Today's mission is easy," she started off, her voice soft. The kunoichi paused for a second to gather her thoughts before continuing, "All we need to do is walk around this district, check up on stuff here and there. Essentially patrolling." Ayumi let the silence fill the atmosphere once again before deciding that she should disclose the reason why they were there, "Oh I forgot to say that we are here to investigate any weird or sketchy acts. The villagers have been complaining lately, saying that they heard screams and loud noises originating from this area." Pausing, the girl scanned the area around her out of caution. "This is an abandoned district here in Konoha, so when people are saying that they could hear noises and whatnot... it's weird..," her voice trailed off.

Sento couldn’t help but notice that Ayumi wasn’t much older than himself as he got a closer look at her. And he quickly made a mental note that she had to be pretty skilled to get such a rank at her age, her response to his greeting was minimal and she gave a slip tip of her head in his direction to say hello, with no words in particular. It was a small gesture but an appreciated one nonetheless. Ayumi would then begin to walk down the street before highlighting the details of the mission to him, as they kept a steady pace.

The good news came first of course, as it often did to soften the blow of the bad news. It appeared that the mission today could be considered easy, a simple patrol mission if not for a few factors that were delivered as the bad news. The previously mentioned bad news was delivered in two parts, one was that the area had already reported screams and disturbing noises it the spot they’d be patrolling and that they would be required to check it out. The second was a bit more creepy, the area was abandoned, so there was no reason as to why such sounds would be coming from the area.

Letting his mind wander his thoughts would instantly point towards horror stories that kids would often tell each other of evil spirits, in an attempt to scare each other. Nervously he’d look to the jounin in order to see what she thought. “Hey… Ayumi. You don’t believe in ghost do you?” He was hoping she’d say no so that he could toss his superstition to the side as nonsense but who knows what she may say.
TWC: 575

As the two walk down the empty street, Ayumi would tug the sleeves of her oversized sweater down to cover her hands as a gust of wind blew out of nowhere. She was starting to regret wearing a pair of shorts as the wind enveloped her legs, holding them in its embrace. It seemed as if the heavens were trolling her; she could have sworn that it wasn't this cold when she stepped out of the house. Damn you.

In order to distract herself from the cold, the kunoichi decided to pay attention to her surrounding. After all, she was there on a mission, not for a walk. Glancing around, the young female took notice of the state of the district; although abandoned, the houses seemed relatively well kept, much to her surprise. She assumed that the village's higher ups have been sending people to maintain the state of the district on a regular basis—perhaps to pretty the district up and make it seem less abandoned? Lost in her train of thoughts, it was shortly interrupted by a question:

"You don't believe in ghosts do you?"

What?...

"... No," was her curt reply. A series of questions dashed through her head: Ghosts? Do they exist? Am I scared of them? Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, Ayumi turned her head to face Sento, her usual poker face on full display, "Why? Are you scared of them?"

Sento typically wore bulky clothes, even now despite the fact that the temperature had slowly been on the rise the past couple weeks as the seasons changed from winter to spring. Which is why it seemed particularly odd that even underneath his bulky sweatshirt a sudden chill would find itself washing over him. Feeling himself begin to shiver he’d try to stop it but find the attempt to be of little success. Taking into account the sudden change in temperature he’d begin to rub his bare hands together in order to generate what little friction he could to fuel his body temperature.

Ayumi’s response to his question seemed to come about a couple seconds after he asked as if she had, had to think about it first. “...No.” There would be a slight pause before she continued which left a bit of silence in the frigid air. “Why? Are you scared of them?” She’d ask as her face turned towards Sento, which seemed to hold no expressions or hints toward what she may be thinking.

Sento in all honesty didn’t know if he was… He had never encountered one and wasn’t even completely sure that he believed in such things. Would it be irrational to fear something that might not even exist? “I don’t even know if they exist… Never seen one, guess I can’t really know for sure if I’m afraid of them until I see one with my own two eyes”

TWC: 827

“I don’t even know if they exist… Never seen one, guess I can’t really know for sure if I’m afraid of them until I see one with my own two eyes.”

Cocking her head towards him, Ayumi eyed the boy, her left eyebrow raised. A wave of skepticism traveled across her face before the young female shrugged her shoulders, "There's nothing you should be afraid of. Don't be a..." she trailed off as she bit her tongue. No. 

It was a habit of hers to speak without thinking.

Walking in silence, Ayumi heard a rustle in the bushes to her right. Very cliché; a large majority of horror movies will depict the characters investigating weird or creepy noises. Boring. Well, either way, it was better investigate the noise anyway, just in case. Leaving Sento's side and going off the road, the kunoichi leisurely walked towards the bush, stopping a meter away from it. Looking around, she spotted a thin branch. Crouching down, Ayumi reached for it before using it to jab different areas of the bushes. Should there be anything in there, the jabbing motion would hopefully irritate whatever creature was in there and cause it to reveal itself. Two seconds into poking the bush, the girl stopped her action and craned her neck towards Sento, "Keep an eye out. Just in case someone or whatever decides to sneak up on us."

After a minute of jabbing the bush, Ayumi stood up as a porcupine made its appearance. Staring at the creature for a split second, the female placed the branch she had been holding on the ground. Hauling herself up, she signalled Sento to follow her.

It was getting late and the night was getting chillier by the hour. Mother Nature, why do you do this?

Fast forward, the walk was silent other than the occasional sentence or two being exchanged between the two. Was it awkward? Well depends on the person, I guess. A couple of minutes passed before they approached an intersection. Looking towards Sento, the girl opened her mouth, "Which way do you think we should go—left, right, or straight ahead?"

Personally, Ayumi would have taken a random turn at the intersection. After all, she didn't know the district well enough to know where she was heading. There was no need for an educated guess; let the wind take you away, they say. Either way, whichever direction was chosen, the duo would arrive to the center of the district. Coming to a halt, the kunoichi scanned the area. Something seemed odd.

What will they find? Find out in the next episode of Spooky Spoopy Sus.

As sento confessed his potential fear of the supernatural the jounin seemed to think it was ridiculous. “There’s nothing you should be afraid of. Don’t be a…” The senju’s head would cock in a bit of confusion. “Well at least she caught herself I guess” he’d think as he let the comment slide. The silence that resulted from it however was a bit unwelcome and awkward, so Sento would find himself whistling quietly to pass the time and occupy his mind. The tunde was soothing to him and he found that it easily took his mind off the potential horror movie situation the two would find themselves in.

And it was working quite well, that is at least until a rustle could be heard from the bushes to the side of the pair. The sound would cause sento to stop his walking and he’d look to Ayumi wondering if he should check it out. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do in this situation and was sure that the higher ranking woman would be better suited for such a task. Thankfully it seemed Ayumi thought so too and had already began walking towards the rustling bushes. She’d come to a stop merely a couple meters away from the hedge.

Anxious to see what was in the bush Sento’s full and undivided attention would be drawn into the following events. And he’d watch as Ayumi grasped the short branch to the side of her and began to jab into the hedge. She however would stop for a second after doing this before mentioning to Him that he should be keeping an eye out for anyone that might try and sneak up on them. Sento thought the request was odd considering they were in their own village and couldn’t imagine anyone coming to attack them. But he wasn’t going to disobey a jounin’s orders and turned his back to monitor the street behind them.

As he did so he couldn’t see anyone in particular and his ears would focus on the sound of Ayumi’s resumed jabbing. This process would continue for about a minute before the rustling of the leaves that had originated itself earlier made itself manifest again. Interested to see what it was Sento’s head would turn and find himself looking at the image of a porcupine. “Guess there really is nothing to be afraid of” He’d think to himself as a slight burst of air would find itself leaving his nose, the situation was funny.

After confirming that the sound was just a harmless animal Ayumi would get back up and signal for sento to follow her. The two found themselves exchanging few words, but sento didn’t view it as an awkward exchange. Instead he just assumed that Ayumi was primarily focused on the patrol, and he wasn’t going to distract her with meaningless small talk. If a meaningful conversation presented itself then maybe he’d go about it, but for now he’d remain silent.

The silence would only be broken when the pair of ninja found themselves at an impasse. An intersection near the center of the district, not that sento knew this of course, he had never been to this part of time and had no desire to ever come back to it again. The whole place was just a spooky environment. “left, right, or straight ahead” Directed at him, he’d scratch his head as the question registered in his mind before more asking than saying. “[color:e8ab=light green]right?”

Despite his lack of confidence in his answer it seemed Ayumi was more than willing to head in that direction, and the two continued their journey to the center of the district before Ayumi came to a sudden stop. With a barely noticeable hint of nervousness sento would mutter. “Ayumi? Whats up?” Trying to get some information on what was going on.

TWC: 1486

Upon arrival to the center of the district, the barren land exude a strange atmosphere; something that she wasn't able to put her finger on. Was this paranoia or was it her gut feeling telling her that there was some sketchy business happening?

“Ayumi? Whats up?”, uttered Sento as the two came to a halt.

Do I look like I know... was the girl's thought upon hearing his question. Shrugging her shoulders, Ayumi pursed her lips, "I don't know. I'll be honest here: the atmosphere seems weird, but then maybe I'm just getting paranoid. Either way, we shall find that out." Was she really getting paranoid over this whole situation? Shaking her head, the kunoichi laid her eyes upon a house situated ten meters away to her left that was particularly well kept. Now admittedly, all the houses in the district are somewhat well groomed, but the house she was looking at specifically was extra well kept.

"Don't you think that house seems extra tidy compared to all the other houses? Or is just me?", the girl questioned her teammate as she lifted her hand to point out the house that was in question. Regardless of Sento's response, Ayumi would answer it with a standard sentence of hers, "I think we should check it out."

Walking towards the house, she'd signal the boy to follow her. Trailing down the street, the girl would slip past the gates and walk up to the front door. Gently placing her right hand on the handle, she pushed the handle down and gently pushed the door, praying that it wouldn't creak. Suppressing her chakra, Ayumi stepped into the house. It seemed like a good idea to suppress her chakra. Looking around, it was obvious that it was an abandoned house; a couple broken furnitures here and there covered with a blanket of dust. What struck as odd were the footprints on the floor leading to the stairs. Pointing at the trail of footprints, the girl signalled Sento to follow her as she head up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, the girl stopped in her tracks as a shadow of a figure appeared, from one of the rooms. The moonlight which shone through the window illuminated the individual in question (whose face she couldn't see) and created a harsh shadow across the floor. It seemed as if the owner of the shadow was lightly pacing around the room.

"Ambush the person," the girl instructed Sento before pointing towards a spot at the side of her neck, "Hit this spot as hard as you can to knock him/her out."

As the two still stood in motionless in the center of the district sento’s question hung in the air for a bit before it found itself being answered. Almost like ayumi had been questioning herself in her head. And after a while it seemed she herself didn’t have an exact answer for why she had stopped, other than the fact that something had felt wrong and that she was probably just being paranoid. “Well now who's being the baby” Sento would think to himself sarcastically, calling back on her earlier remarks on how there was nothing to be afraid of.

However ayumi was ever watchful and continued to inspect the scene, here eyes scanning the area until they rested on a house maybe a dozen meters in the distance, sento wasn’t a walking measuring tape, he couldn’t tell for sure. The house didn’t much stand out to him or at least it didn’t until Ayumi pointed out why it was the focus of her attention. “Don’t you think that house seems extra tidy compared to all the other houses?” once these words made themselves known sentos focus would return to the building and he’d wonder how he could have possibly missed such a detail. Buildings surrounding it were covered in cobwebs and peeling paint, but this one.. Was very much in tact.

“Yah it does…” he’d mutter as he placed both hands in his pockets and waited for his sensei's orders. Luckily the wait wouldn’t be long and the jounin would recommend they check it out almost instantly. Nodding in agreeance as if he had a say, Sento would follow her lead. The gate that rested in front of the house was bypassed easily enough, after all the two of them were both trained shinobi. If something as simple as a gate could deter their paths they would surely not be worthy of that title.

Ayumi would take the lead opening the door with delicacy and care, no creak or sounds of entrance would be heard from the possible residents of the building within. The interior of the house seemed to be a little worse of than the exterior, its contents thoroughly covered in layers of dust. Sento’s eyes weren't trained to look for the details that ayumi had caught, and he was oblivious to the fact that they were following a set of footprints left in the dust, but he’d stop at the same time Ayumi did, ensuring that he remained as careful and quiet as he had been.

The next set of orders surprised him as ayumi directed towards a mysterious shadowy figure in the room and told him to knock them out. Confused as to why they would assault someone who seemed to be doing nothing other than walking around sento was about to protest his opposition to the idea when he realized that it would just create unnecessary noise, that could give away their position. Letting out an almost silent sigh he’d reluctantly do as he was asked and use two jutsu simultaneously. The first one he’d activate was the lightweight tech, a unique jutsu that allowed him to make himself lighter and faster for easier evasive movements. The second would be wood cutting as he’d sprout a large wooden branch out of the palm of his hand and detaching it much like a club.

Waiting for the man who was pacing to turn his back to them, he’d make his move and lunge forward, swinging the branch towards the back of the man's neck, making sure to use a blunt side so as not to decapitate him like some sort of barbarian. The senju would let out a faint smile as the man thumped to the ground and offered no resistance to his attack. Lightly nudging the collapsed body to confirm it was unconcious he’d turn his head towards ayumi and ask. “Ok… What now?”

WC: 2145