A Murder or Two [Private]

The-Seedling

This day did not at all go as Kinko planned.  There were rumors spreading that people began using the Temple and other known buildings as part of Ghost Tours, which Kinko was not entirely fond of but so long as these people stayed out of his way, then he was not concerned.  Unfortunately, there has been a murder on these lands, and the problem is this does not appear to be a proper tribute.  The young vampire knew of several different makeshift company and would need to investigate.  

The body was cold on the snow, red blood and mist clouded with snow underneath.  Kinko crouched down while clicking his tongue in disappointment.  "You old fool."  He said while sporting a cupping motion on the cheek of the man.  He appeared to be about 50 years old, black hair, and about 5'7.  Kinko was just wandering the campus, providing protection when needed, and surveillance for security.  Yet, this is exactly why these routes were important.  He pressed the back of his hand on multiple parts of the body to determine temperature, yet it's so difficult to determine a time of death through temperature with so many outside factors.  Regardless, it was relatively fresh.  Nothing decaying but aspects of rigor and vigor mortis have started.  

Kinko could see some scratches and cuts but assumed the deadly wounds were on the back, as he was lying on it.  Kinko noticed the environment with  some unsettled snow and broken branches, presumably from a fight.  It was not that far off from a main trail but certainly someone brought him out here with intention.  He wondered how many people might have walked past him and why no one did anything to further hide the body.  Were they that careless?  Had they did this so many times they became comfortable and complacent?

This old man might have been pressured before trying to fight back or run away.  Either way, we know how his story ends.

Kinko then put his hands into the pockets of the old man to obtain some identifying information.  A crunch in the snow alerted him as he looked up to see someone approaching.  He was relatively still as he had nothing to hide but surely he did not want to be seen with a deadly body...and checking it's pockets...Good thing Kinko had not tried his blood...yet.

[396/396]

What a coincidence. One moment Yazui was taking a walk through the beautiful snowscape to clear his mind, the next he suddenly spotted Kinko in the distance. Despite having both joined Yugure on similar terms, the two had not interacted much until now. Last time Yazui had seen this Kyuketsuki, he was practically gushing over Mizuki. Quite some time had passed since then, and Yazui wondered how this time in the organisation had been for Kinko.

Yazui would approach and give a casual wave, appearing much more at ease than the paranoid and jittery individual Kinko might remember him as. "Ah, Kinko-san. Long time no s- oh.." Drawing closer, Yazui would notice the dead body at Kinko's feet. His reaction was one of mild surprise. Appropriate for someone who had seen plenty of dead bodies in his lifetime and was completely unphased by them. Granted, he hadn't expected to run into any today.

The missing-nin would not alter his leisurely pace, finally coming to a standstill next to Kinko with his hands in his pockets. Traveling cloak, seeming a lot more clean than the last time the young vampire had seen it, wrapped tightly around his body. Sunglasses on as usual, although one could argue at this moment they actually had a function protecting his eyes from snowblind. Standing there, he would look from Kinko to the dead body. He would size it up before bringing his gaze back to Kinko once more.

"So.... is this your handiwork?" His tone was as casual as asking about the weather.

259/259

Kinko relaxed his guard generally as he realized it was Yazui to approach him.  Honestly, he was not upset about it and recognized that out of most people, Yazui would probably be the most understanding of the situation.  At least, according to his thoughts about everyone.  Kinko let out a chuckle as Yazui recognized the corpse.  It was funny because of noticeable the change was.  Granted, it is not a shock to see a dead body, but more of a surprise.  Just was not expecting it.  Kinko had a similar sentiment.  “Yazui,” he said in a welcoming yet quite formal tone.  Almost as if the two were the hired detectives to investigate the scene.  Kinko would continue to rummage through the pockets as Yazui approached, at least this way, Yazui would SEE Kinko was not planning on taking anything.

His hands touched nothing as the pockets were completely empty. “Well, Yazui.” Kinko said in a tone indicating his balance between answering the question and the distracting of moving his hands towards the chest pockets to search there.  “This was not me.  Mizuki would be upset. First,” He said as his hands felt some papers in the chest pocket.  “This seems like perhaps a local.  His clothing does not seem like a tourist, nor as we know.  There aren’t tourists!” He said to a chuckle to himself as he began answering his own questions while speaking to Yazui.  “But most importantly.” He said while pulling out what seemed to be a small slip of paper, almost a token, or ticket.  His eyes did not even glance at the paper slip but automatically went to meet Yazuis.  “This is not a proper tribute.”

Then, bring the paper up towards his eye line with Yazui.  The slip indicated it was a ticket for a ghost tour, dated only yesterday, explaining the freshness of the corpse, labeled and titled, ‘Yasui Ghost Tour’.  “Well, Yazui, it seems like we got our ticket!”  He said with some joy, also while offering the ticket for Yazui to examine.  Kinko realizing, while Yasui meant ‘cheap’, ‘inexpensive, this ole man paid the greatest price of them all, his life…and probably didn’t even see any ghosts!

[366/762]

While Kinko was explaining about the body and rummaging through its chest pockets, Yazui would squat down, resting his arms on his upper body, in order to get a closer look at the deceased old man. Taking in the details; the cuts and bruises that clearly hinted at a struggle and the relative freshness of the corpse, before rising up again and taking in the environmental damage caused by the struggle. A few broken branches and some unsettled snow…. But nothing indicating the use of large-scale ninjutsu or fancy techniques. From the look of it, the fight was over quickly. Perhaps an ambush?

His attention was brought back to Kinko as he offered him the ticket. Yazui would take it and gloss over the paper. “Heh… my name is just one letter away from “cheap” huh?” This unfortunate fact of life aside, the ticket sure looked cheap. A greyish surface, black, oozing letters taking up way too much space and a picture of a stereotypical black-haired ghost girl grasping at the reader at the bottom right corner.

It had “tacky” written all over it.

“I suppose it’s as good a lead as any…”, he mumbled while handing the ticket back to Kinko. Yazui’s inclusion in this investigation had already been unofficially decided when Kinko mentioned it was “their” ticket. The Tenka was fine with this; if someone was going around killing locals so closely to the Yugakure base, as a member of the organization Yazui felt responsible for investigating this. After all, who was to say this killer wasn’t a threat? Kinko for his part had his own reason for tracking down the perpetrator. Something to do with an improper tribute? Yazui assumed it was some sort of Kyuketsuki logic that he wasn’t privy too. He made a mental note to ask Kinko about this later; the last thing he wanted to do was piss off his superiors by unintentionally disrespecting the customs of their clan.

“Well, let’s get going then. The corpse is still pretty fresh, so the perpetrator is probably still near the area.” He turned towards the village and, more specifically, the address mentioned on the ticket.

---

360/619

Kinko accepted the ticket back, being the possessor and holding it's liabilities. He took a mental note of it's importance and how crucial it was to maintain it's safety. At least, to not forget the address. As the two were finalizing their review of the body, Kinko stated the address to ensure both knew the address, should anything happen, "301 Reiki, right next to the chakra charmer." He said as his eyebrow rose, challenging it's authenticity. Kinko had never heard of a chakra charmer and made the connection the two were likely working together. The scam artists, they must have been. Kinko was hoping it was not a touring company, if they were, he was hoping they would still be there. Kinko was quite happy that Yazui displayed the proper attitude. While Kinko never asked for help he fully expected Yazui to join him, if not, at least sincerely offer. Kinko was grateful for that. Though, Kinko recognized Yazui was a bit too swift in seeking justice.

"Before we go, we must bury him. This should take only a little." He said, not asking permission but moving the body to a natural position. Kinko would cross the mans arms over his abdomen and ensured the eyes were closed. While Kinko would have preferred a slain in the name of Jashin and a proper burial plot, Kinko could make do with the realities of the situation. Kinko wondered if he had every seen anyone do this. Kinko slowly brought his lips to the neck of the man and clung his sharp teeth into the veins. The blood had sat in the body for a little and some had not dissipated. It took a few seconds to get the engine going but once it did, the blood entered into his mouth as he utilized the blood that was preserved by the temperature.

It only took a few moments for Kinko to obtain his fill and the body was visually dehydrated, almost as if there was no liquid inside. A nice "ahh" left Kinko's mouth as he was replenished with blood but really, quite a Jashin tribute. With this, Kinko would then start picking twigs, branches, and some green to place over the body. The body would burn much faster, since there is much less liquid. Of course, Kinko would finalize with a quiet prayer to complete the burial ceremony. With an ignition of a flame to set the fire ablaze, the two were off to discover the perpetrators.

[762/1174] [Exit]

Kinko’s insistence on burying the victim surprised Yazui.  To him, a corpse had always been a corpse. Showing it any sort of respect, whether in the name of religious conduct or sentimentality, had always seemed a waste of time to him. Also, the perpetrators were still close by. If they were fleeing the area, Kinko and Yazui were wasting precious minutes right now. Despite his irritation, he wasn’t going to protest yet. If it was this important to Kinko, it wasn’t worth getting into an argument over. At least at this moment. So instead, he would observe while trying to hide his impatience as well as he could.

As Kinko would conduct his ritual, Yazui would quietly observe. As the only member of Yugure that wasn’t a Kyuketsuki, he felt a bit of an outsider in the organization. He didn’t know whether the Kyuketsuki viewed him as such, but it was interesting to have this little demonstration of their customs. Even if it included Kinko sucking the blood out of a dead man. Despite the man not having been dead for a long time, the fact that he was already deceased made Yazui draw the comparison between drinking milk that had been left in the fridge for too long.

After he drained the body of blood, the vampire would cover the body with a makeshift pyre before lighting it ablaze. During all of this, Yazui would not interfere or join in preparing the ritual. While it might have seemed lax, the missing-nin understood that he was unfamiliar with these customs. If he were to help, even if he had good intentions, there was a big chance that he would make some sort of mistake born out of ignorance and muck the ritual up. Instead, he would take in everything Kinko did for if Yazui himself was ever ordered to conduct one of these rituals.

As the body burned, the smell of burning flesh filled the air. The glowing warmth of the pyre was a welcome sensation in the snowy winter wonderland. Yazui allowed himself a few seconds to absorb the warmth of the fire before following Kinko. He was fine with the vampire taking charge for now. He had memorized the address, after all. And, well, if they were walking into an ambush he was fine with having a meat shield of sorts.

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393/1012

EXIT

Claiming 2500 ryo and 12,5 AP mission reward

Max stats, spending WC on AP,  +20 AP

55 words for completing Temple Style Bark mastery, AP reduction. Previous training here.

Spending remaining 957 WC on Zanshin - Finishing Mind, 1543 words remaining

Approved for both claims/exits

Rescinding approval of Yazui’s claims for the below:
- technique requires Bukijutsu as a specialty
- i thought you had Bukijutsu as a specialty based on the icons below your avatar/name but your stat page implies that you don’t 
- additionally your stat spread doesn’t mean the requirements of using an A rank buki tech. specifically your strength stat

Auron wrote:Rescinding approval of Yazui’s claims for the below:
- technique requires Bukijutsu as a specialty
- i thought you had Bukijutsu as a specialty based on the icons below your avatar/name but your stat page implies that you don’t 

My bad, my stat page was outdated. Should be up to date now.

Auron wrote:
- additionally your stat spread doesn’t mean the requirements of using an A rank buki tech. specifically your strength stat

Fair point.

Changed to spending 500 WC unlearning 5 chakra, 500 adding 5 strenght.

Since I can't start learning the A-rank jutsu yet, spending remaining 957 words on training Genjutsu Messenger up to B-rank (500 words since I'm currently at C-rank)

Remaining 457 on mastering Phantom Dream Lens (AP), 543 words remaining

Approved