The Search [Mngmt interaction: Escalation]

My body hangs over slightly as my form rises and falls with my panting breath. My form is covered in loose fitting black clothing that cover up much of my body save for my neck and face. Two toed tabi are on my feet and a slender sword is worn vertically on my back. I had begun my training in the morning, but with the onset of the hours beyond the afternoon, it was time to head back into the village to acquire something to eat before starting my shift at the weapons shop. Pausing for a moment, my gaze lifts as I feel something. I was able to sense a human, not to far from here. From the signature, it didn’t seem to be anyone from the village that I knew. I wondered why a human could be this deep into the forest near the stone monuments; didn’t they know it was dangerous? I decide to go and check it out. Sakura petals float in the absence of my body as I vanish from that position.

I come within range of the human figure, appearing within the branches of a tall tree and looking down onto her. “A monk?” I wonder, noting the attire and the weapon held in hand. She seemed to be inspecting the monumental stone. Another floral fluttering occurs as I vanish from that point and appear on the ground on the opposite side of the rock as the female monk. Walking around the rock within proximity of the monk with my arms folded at my chest and greet, “it’s odd to find a monk from around here that I do not know. Are you a tourist in these wood?”

I watch the mannerisms of this person. She speaks of the past and her connection to this spot and informs that she was not a visitor to these woods. The possibility arises that she might be from a smaller clan placed further out into the wood, but the presence of such a group had been unheard of for quite some time. My gaze shifts to her hands, then to her hair and face. Her body seemed well maintained; she didn’t seem to have any blemishes. Her manicure was a bit sharp, but apparent and her hair seemed as if she took good care of it. With that observation, I assume, “you must be a descendant of a previous clan come to pay homage to this location. You don’t seem like you live within the forest. It’s my guess that you’ve come from the city. This place must be special to you?”

I continue to listen to her words as I stand there with my arms folded. She seemed peaceful and well meaning enough. It brought things into doubt whether she could actually user the spade that she was holding in her hand, or if it was a fancy keep sake that she brought with her to make her feel the part and connect with her ancestors. After a closer inspection of the spade from my distance, I am able to discern that it did seem as if it had been use. At the moment it was a toss up on the authenticity of the woman, but such a thing probably didn’t matter for a city slicker. What wasn’t a secret was that there were small settlements in and around the Veneza Ruins. I would assume the moniker that I was from there for now, which was not far removed from the truth seeing as I often brought goods in and out of there for the public access portion of the Forest Shop. Since she hadn’t asked about why I was here, I felt that she would probably assume that was where I was from as well. “I see,” I answer back, “so you’re looking for a myth in the forest. It sounds like you’re on quite the quest. Just why would you be seeking such a group and why should they feel compelled to be found by you?”

I find her answer to the question a bit strange. I wondered if she thought she would just happen upon the hidden village. I didn’t know of her skills, but the hidden village was… hidden. I knew that it was hidden for a reason and one of those reasons was to keep anyone who decided they wanted to visit it from visiting it. But still, I didn’t know if she got the meaning of my words, so it confused me a bit. The tilt of her head and confused look gives me the impression that she might be a bit airy as well. Well, I didn’t see the harm in allowing her to continue her futile search. Instead of that, the other thing that was stated was more interesting. “you don’t think that they already know about the balance?”

The person seemed very interesting in her speech and what she had to say. I knew first hand that my father and the village leaders had their own agenda and were stubborn with me, one of them. I wondered how they would react to a new comer bringing them news of what they already know. The reaction might almost be funny. But still, they were old men, the perverted geezers would probably listen to anything this busty lady had to say. Jealousy? A little. I felt that women like her didn’t have to have much content, since the package they came in already gave them an advantage; unlike myself who was petite… but good things come in small packages! Thinking back, I remember our last major involvement with the city came when we negated the dark barrier those Division idiots hit with a nuclear weapon. If the current situation was left to them, the entire world may be destroyed before the demon war could be won. Egging her on, I nod with a blank but interested expression as I state the obvious, “you seem to be well informed about this balance of which you speak. I take it you’re a demon hunter?”

My brows rise at the laugh. I must have really been far off base. The introduction seems like some sort of rehearsed movie role where she was the lead actress, though I wouldn’t be able to make that comparison since there were no movies in the forests. After she’s done, I nod slowly absorbing this. What I got from her was that she was a part of a separate sect within the forest that sympathized with humans and spirits. I hoped that I misheard her since it was my belief that there needed to be no balance in the earth realm for spirits since there was something called the spirit realm. Still, since the woman was so nice, I had no choice but to return the hospitality of the conversation. “Well. Nice to meet you Hiramoto-san. I am Taka Hitogumi, a forest merchant’s assistant. So I see you’re familiar with this area and that’s a nice spade you have there. Do you ever frequent the Veneza Ruins?”

“Oh,” I say to the answer, figuring she had been there, or went there from time to time. “People who do not live in the city have settled there,” I explain. Well, I certainly was not going to bring her back to the hidden village and I would be late for my job if I were to stay and chat any longer. I begin to wrap up the conversation before I feel a strong presence. Right after feeling it, I sigh and hang my head. Illusionary feathers float down and an arm comes around my neck as Kousuke, an adolescent ninja, dressed as one, save for the lack of a mack, appears in his own “cool” little way welcoming, “hey bro, who’s your friend?” My face instantly turns red with the anger of being teased and called a male and my first moves swiftly towards the face of the newcomer. He backs away casually evading the blow as he turns his attention towards Izumi. His hand rises to brush through his wild ‘bad boy’ wolf like brown locks as he shakes his hair in a shampoo commercial manner with pastel bubbles and sparkles emitting for a slowed portion of time. He gives a soft bow as he introduces, “Kousuke Onigai at your services… ninja extraordinaire.” I complete his sentence, “…who was just leaving” as my arms are our stretched and I push him away from Izumi. He rolls off of my pushing as he pursues, “and who might you be?”

“Ah! I knew it as soon as I saw you,” the male ninja states. I frown as I turn around disgruntled folding my arms and informing, “no you didn’t!” He continues to front as if he new about the Hiramoto Clan, stating, “it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of you around, but that’s not important…” During this time, I notice that his gaze is to her chest and not her face as he was probably trying to calculate her exact bra size through her monk’s robe. “Her face is about a foot higher…” I assist as his head tilts up, but my words are not acknowledged. He continues, “such a rare beauty way out here. Such a shame. There are no cute ladies like you in the hidden…” After the word hidden, he breaks off into coughs as he looks down to see my elbow lodged firmly in his torso. The idiot almost let something important slip out while trying to flirt. “You have to excuse him,” I apologize, “he’s not right in the head.” With a large grin and a teasing manner, I find that my head is bring pet like a small child as he states, “Taka-chan, you’re so cold! You’ll never grow a bosom if you’re so hard all the time.” Something inside snaps as the male’s fate is sealed. In a flash, the man lies on the ground with his legs up and twitching as I continually slam my iron tessen (fan) into his body over and over. Kousuke casually puts his arm around Izumi’s neck as he continues to speak, “so what brings you out here.” I look up at Izumi and Kousuke, then down, to notice a log in the place of his body. Rage rushes as I boil over.

The spade strikes home in the center of the males face as his body straightens up. As Izumi walks away, the male is decked in the face and sent to the ground where he is stomped on several times by my foot that seems to move on its own. During the stomping, I pause for a moment, and then perk up as I look towards the west. There seems to be a distant scream. “Hmm…” I murmur as I notice the presence of a strong demon moving about in the daytime and the presence of a lesser human. Kousuke perks up from the ground as well as he notices this. It seemed like today was tourist day in the forest. Since I could use the training and I was sworn to protect human, I had to go and look into it. “Sorry, but I have to go. It was nice meeting you Hiramoto-san,” I say and with that, my form vanishes, appearing in a nearby tree as I dash through the treetops towards the west. Standing up, Kousuke actually seems serious as he gives a quick, “ja!” and takes off in a similar manner.

Moving quickly through the trees, I come to a stop after getting near the area where the energy signatures were at. I stand on a branch with my hand on the trunk of the tall tree and am able to feel Kousuke’s presence approaching. I am also able to feel the busty lady’s signature coming pretty quickly as well. Either way, I turn my focus to the scene in front of me.

At floor level in a small forest clearing, a young female researcher sits on the ground on her knees leaning back. She is dressed as if she had set out on an expedition. There were small electronic tools and indicators on the forest floor near her. Fear is on her face as she looks towards a spirits that looks like a very large floating Parana. The fish out of water waves to and fro in front of the young lady poised to strike at any moment. As if sensing or hearing the sound of someone approaching, it’s attention turns east back towards the area where we had come from.

Looking towards my side, I look to where I since Kousuke’s presence. He is already looking towards me. I give him a nod and he nods back before we start our attack.

The large fish demon looks around for a moment as if it sensed something, but lost it. During this time of distraction, the panicked young lady attempts to gather her things and scurry away. The large demon turns back towards her and spits, sending a large wad of film towards the woman, plastering her to the ground. The woman is held in place and unable to move as the large Parana slowly makes its way towards her. The sound of wind cutting whips through the air as a thin hair wire glistens and rushes, then binds the fish creature in place. The sound of stretching wires makes a high pitched noise and suddenly there is an explosion of smoke around the area where the demon is. A column of light pushes shadows out of the smoke as it rises up and stretches out before fading away. The smoke fades and a harmless shouchou spirit lifts from where the demon had been, it’s physical carcass effectively burnt and done away with. Time freezes as the woman who was bound by the gunk seems to be free of it. Time resumes and she looks around in shock and nothing else is around her. She looks down to see a small note on the ground that reads to “leave the forest immediately.” Sniffling, she stands up and grabs her things, and yells, “it’s you isn’t it?... the forest ninja? Come out Sacred Hunters!” After a while and there is no answer, she looks down dejectedly and then runs through the forest away from the area. Having landed back into the high tree tops, I exhale after the large depletion of stamina for using my time magic. I look up and across to Kousuke who nods, signaling that he would watch over her until she got out of the forest. I nod back and he vanishes, giving chase. After the area is cleared, I leap down from the trees to the clearing in the area walking to a high tech realm capturing camera, unsure of what the device actually did. Standing over it, I knew that Izumi was nearby. “Still around?” I ask as I look in her direction. I look to the camera and ask, “do you know what this is?”

“Oh,” I say with a nod of my head as I look down at the thing. I did not know how to work the technology of the city. I crouch down next to it, not sure about it for a moment before I pick it up and look at the small box shaped device, turning it upside down and looking at its lens. “It must not be important if she left it…” I assume looking at it. I offer it to Izumi and ask, “is it useful to you?” I couldn’t think of a reason to use it other than a doorstop, but if Izumi were to turn it on, a realm environment would rise up with amateur footage of the most recent attack on East City from a tall building two blocks away as well as other supernatural footage.

I look up as the observation is made. I felt I just needed a little time to recompose, but it was always like that after using time magic. I assure her with a soft smile, “I’m fine…” My words are partially cut off as the camera somehow turns on and a realm projection opens up. A previous recording puts the urban environment of an alleyway around us with a werewolf attacking and devouring a man. Like a surprised kitten, I jump back and assume a stance, confused, as I realize there was no time to think as I had to help the man. “Hiramota-san, stay back!” I rush the few feet towards the werewolf pulling a short blade from a sheath behind my back and slash out at it. The realm replica gives a digital static effect as the blade goes through it, but it is like I am swinging at air. I attack at it a few more times to no avail, basically trying to do the same thing as trying to interact with something on TV. By this time, I was thoroughly confused.

I am able to hear Izumi’s words and I notice that she was not alarmed at the realism of the scene. I stop and look around me, feeling foolish for reacting the way I did. A bit dejectedly, I comment, “I see, it must be some type of illusionary magic. That box has greater powers than I would have first assumed.” I make the mental note of it, not really speaking anymore in an attempt to maintain some dignity as I resheathe my weapon. As the scenes change and flicker from one scene to another, I come to the conclusion that this would probably be something my father would like to see. I would have to report it to our village. I didn’t want to seem like an Indian giver after offering it to Izumi. With my thoughts on Izumi, she saw thus far that I was a ninja and that Kousuke and I were able to kill demons. I knew that unless she was very dense, she probably connected me to the group of people she was looking for. If she could control and utilize that box, there might be a use for her in the village which would serve both of our purposes. I ask, “so are you able to operate that magic orb box?”

The positive answer shines some light into her usefulness, which enables me to answer the question in a political manner. Looking to Izumi I offer “if you are able to work this for me to show my father, I believe I can introduce you to members of the clan you seek.” I felt for some reason that it would be good for the people of the village to see how things had escalated in the city. Our movements within the city had been limited, but perhaps with this, it would push a more proactive role in actually fighting inside the city instead of slowing down or stopping demons from going into the city from the forests. It didn’t seem as if the forest was the only place demons liked to live these days.