Date: April 23rd, 13 years following the Kyuubi's attack
Days since Teams 11 & 13 reached Mizumiyo Palace: 5
Time: 5:30 AM
"Ohayo Gozaimas, Miho-sensei." Nakahito Haruno murmured with a tired yawn as he set his breakfast tray on the wooden table of the common room set aside for the Konoha team. The Jonin sat along with the blonde Genin from Team 11 and his pet panther. "Same to you, Takahashi, Kyouran."
The trio who had been actively searching for the real Princess Reiyuriko for the last five days looked up from the bird's eye view map of Kawa City they'd been contemplating for the past half hour. The Imperial City had been broken up into dozens of unusually shaped sections that followed no rhyme or reason that Haruno's tired brain was able to comprehend. Of the sections, a little over a third of them had been marked with a red X.
"Good Morning, 'Hito." Miho Hyuuga answered before she took a long sip from her cup of herbal breakfast tea. She and Takahashi had already finished their own breakfasts although Kyouran the panther was still nibbling at the plate of cubed meat chunks that had been steamed warm, but were still mostly raw. "You're up earlier than usual. Normally you're only coming in as we're headed out."
Haruno nodded in agreement. "Yeah." He yawned again. "But I was curious as to how the recon is going. I figured you wouldn't wait for me, so I decided to come to the two of you."
"Early morning and late evening are the best times to hunt for elusive prey in a city." Takahashi pointed out. "Most people are still in bed, which makes it far easier for Hyuuga-sensei to target those with marks similar to one that appeared on Princess Reiyuriko last year. The problem is that the Princess is so loved that several women have gotten a similar tattoo because they want to be like her. Hyuuga-sensei tells me if she sees anyone with the mark and where they are. Kyouran and I then go in to search for our target's scent."
Nakahito's jaw dropped slightly. "Wow... The search is that easy?"
"Theoretically, 'Hito, but only theoretically." The Jonin kunoichi answered. "Kawa City's several times larger than Konoha, after all, so there's a LOT of area for us to search... While my Byakugan has no problem seeing through walls for the entire city from the perch I take on Mizumiyo's roof, even a Jonin like myself has limits in terms of chakra endurance. We're making decent progress, but at this rate, it will take another three weeks to complete little more than a cursory inspection of the city."
The brown-haired Genin winced, feeling his own dreams of participating in the Chuunin Exams this time around begin to slip away from him. He wasn't as singularly focused as Raiden was, but he still wanted to participate. He looked down at the map in an effort to hide the look of disappointment that was surely crossing his face along with the sinking feeling in his gut. As he looked at the map, the red and black clad Genin frowned, rubbing his chin. The sections were not only unusually sized, but the X'd out areas were seemingly laid out at random. "What kind of search pattern are you using?"
Kyouran growled around his mouthful of meat and Takahashi nodded. "We aren't."
"What do you mean?"
"Standard search patterns only work if you have sufficient manpower to employ them, Haruno." The scarred young man answered. "By choosing the areas we search at random, whoever is hiding our target won't be able to predict when or where we'll be searching. This means that they will have to be on guard at all times. As time goes on, this will create a measure of personal insecurity and expend fundamental necessities, like time and rest. That will frazzle the nerves of the kidnappers since changing locations becomes problematic." He gestured to the map. "That's why all the regions are broken up into unusual shapes that ignore the physical terrain. If one of the kidnappers notices me, they won't be able to guess when or where I'll be stopping."
A mental light bulb flashed in Nakahito's mind. "You're using the search as a psychological warfare tactic to get them to screw up. So you're thinking the kidnappers are ninja?"
The Jonin kunoichi nodded. "Between the curse that affected the Lord Daimyo, the Princess disappearing without a trace from within the Palace and the fact that the extensive search conducted prior to our arrival being completely fruitless leaves no room for debate on that point… But there are still so many unanswered questions: was the Princess kidnapped or did she leave of her own free will? Is the one responsible for the curse on Mizuzaki the 27th the one who took his daughter? How have they remained hidden for so long? And so on…"
"Still, the two of you alone on the sharp end of the kunai..." Haruno said, feeling some concern for Takahashi and his pet cat. "What's the plan if you two actually find her trail?"
"We'll track it as far as I feel is safe to and then call in you, Raiden, and Hyuuga-sensei." The sun-haired Genin answered as he contemplated the map himself. "I think we'll search sectors 4, 16, and 22 today, Sensei." Takahashi said to the kunoichi, pointing at them on the map.
Miho Hyuuga nodded in agreement. "And of those, you'll start your search in 16, then hit 4, and finish the day in Sector 22." The Jonin declared completing the double randomization method they'd been using since they started the search. The panther trainer nodded in agreement. "All right then, Takahashi. I'll get into position on the Palace roof and should have your initial search zones for Sector 16 by the time you reach it. Set your mike and receiver for channel 3 for the first two and then rotate to channel one for the afternoon search."
The blonde Genin nodded, adjusting the black lariat-type necklace he wore that bore the Konoha Leaf symbol fashioned out of die cast metal with a pair of steel beads on either side to keep the decoration from sliding around the cord, as he stood up. "16-4-22; tactical channel 3 then 1. Got it, Hyuuga-sensei. Let's go, Kyouran." The black feline answered with a growling purr as he hopped from the table onto Takahashi's shoulder and the two walked towards the door.
The Jonin drained her cup of tea. "So, 'Hito, what's on your schedule today?" She asked as she folded up the map to the city.
"After Reiyuriko-hime gets up, eats and has her morning dip in the Family Sento, she typically spends two hours searching through the library researching whatever subject has struck her fancy... I'm not in a position to inquire, so I'm not sure what it is she's looking at. After she finishes with that, she takes her mid-morning bath in the Family Onsen. Following that, she - or to be more precise Raiden and I under the supervision the Princess and that handmaiden she hired in the Land of Fire - tends to the family's Garden. We water the plants, check for dead leaves to prune, and then feed the plants with some kind of custom fertilizer she has stored in the shed/root cellar the Princess vanished from."
"I bet Raiden is just loving that..." Miho Hyuuga smirked at Nakahito's oblique reference to Kimiko and Motoko bossing them around because they could get away with it.
"If you mean he's on the verge of pulling his hair out, yes, yes he is. Anyways, that gets us to about noon when the Princess has lunch on the veranda before she returns to the Onsen - if the weather holds out, the Sento if not - for her early afternoon bath."
"That's her third bath for the day..." Miho said in surprise. "Just how many does she take?"
"Typically five or six…" Haruno looks around, verifying they're completely alone, "And apparently that's normal for the real Princess... Kimi says she's personally storing up the peace and relaxation she gets from soaking in the baths to get her through the Daimyo Convocation once it begins next week."
"She's still that worried about it?"
Haruno grimaced as he contemplated Kimiko's upcoming social debut, his hand beginning to tense and relax reflexively. "Well, you have to remember that she's going to have to deal with all nineteen of her potential future husbands AND their fathers in addition to the organized chaos of the Convocation." The Genin's jaw unconsciously clenched at the thought of all the assorted Princes of the Land of Rivers chasing after and flirting with Kimiko Itou.
Miho saw the emotional storm raging in Nakahito's heart and patted his hand comfortingly. The Genin blinked and threw her a confused look that caused the corners of her lips to turn up in a faint smile. 'Still hasn't realized it for himself yet, I see...' She thought, checking her watch - 5:45.
Hyuuga rose to her feet. "Well, when you find the opportunity to do so, just pass that onto her Highness and tell her I'm always willing to talk if she needs an ear. I hate to leave you, but I've got to get on station - Takahashi hasn't learned how to Body Flicker yet, but he's still impressively fast. I'll see you at dinner time."
"Yeah... Later, Miho-sensei." Nakahito said, checking his own watch as the white-eyed woman departed. 'Looks like I've got about an hour to kill if Kimi stays on her usual schedule.' He pulled his tray over to himself and clapped his hands together. "Itadakimas!" He said in the traditional declaration of gratitude.
* * *
Time: 8:55 AM
"Ah, DAMN it..." Keitaro Urashima sighed in annoyance as he dropped the book he'd been valiantly trying to read for the past hour. It was the third time he'd done so, hence the exclamation of disgust. He wasn't using his rapid study method at the moment because the conclusion of the nightmare that had ended his night earlier kept flashing to mind.
Despite the fact that Motoko's vicious murder hadn't been real, the fact that it represented one of Sho's worst fears made painfully realistic caused it to stick with him so incessantly that it might as well have been a real experience.
> Man, would you please, for the love of GOD, put that shit away? < The dry voice complained. > I'm about to lose my lunch from having to watch that over and over again... And I don't eat! It didn't happen and, furthermore, it CAN'T happen like that... All you're doing is torturing us... Come on, show me the good parts - I need to cleanse my palette... <
"Not happening." Sho answered. He was alone in the library so wasn't worried about anyone walking in. "Besides, that was no more real than the murder was… And don't ask again."
> Okay, fine, don't show me. Just think of something else - ANYthing else with a woman involved. I have to think about what you're thinking about to a certain extent, so give me something to work with here... Motoko-chan walking into the Sento on us and losing her towel, kissing Kimi-chan... Hell, at this point I'd be satisfied with just watching that cat getting caught between those perfect tits of Miho-sensei's again and watch it struggle against them to free itself. <
"God, you're an uncouth, perverted bastard, you know that?" The medic-nin muttered as each of the images in question briefly popped to the front of his mind; despite his desire otherwise
> Pervert? Me?! < The voice said in genuine annoyance. > Listen buddy-boy, YOU'RE the one trying to reject millions of years of biological imperative as if it has no role in everyday life or relationships. I mean, come ON, would it be so horrible to just, you know, go with the flow of things for once? I mean Motoko-chan is totally hot and bothered over us and we want her nearly as bad... < It paused. > Hell, I'm not even trying to ask you to take it beyond first, maybe second base if she's willing, just accept her feelings and tell her what our feelings are in return and let HER decide where it goes. <
"And when I finally turn Demon again? What happens to her then?!" Sho retorted to the voice.
Sho's mental passenger gave the impression of someone splaying their hands to the heavens. > Why, Gods? Why did you make HIM the dominant personality? <
"So the drama..." Inugami sneered, wishing for the umpteenth time that he was free of the voice in his head.
> That's it! I give up! If you're going to be nothing but a broken record on this point, I'd have to be as big an IDIOT as Raiden Hata to keep talking to you. < The voice paused for a heartbeat. > You are such a buzz kill, you know that, buddy? <
"If I weren't we'd probably have ended up in jail a couple dozen times by now..." He muttered in a parting shot.
Across the way, the doors to the library slid open to admit Kimiko, Nakahito, and Motoko's twin brother. Blinking in surprise, Sho Inugami/Keitaro Urashima rose to his feet. "Reiyuriko-hime..." He said with a slight bow.
The crown princess stand-in also reacted with a measure of dignified surprise. "Oh! Urashima-san..." She returned the slight bow. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone in here. My bodyguards and I are the only ones to be here at this time all week."
That further surprised Sho Inugami. Kimiko Itou was not known for enjoying research in a library; given a choice, she would typically choose to find some sort of physical pursuit as opposed to curling up with a good book.
"Ah, yes, well..." The medic said, his mental wheels spinning as he fumbled for something to say. "I had a rather rude awakening this morning in the form of a particularly disturbing dream. I was hoping that the quiet and solitude would help me sort things out up here..." He tapped the side of his head before sighing. "Unfortunately, it hasn't."
"I see..." The faux Princess said; a moue of worry on her face.
Sho flinched in sudden uncertainty. Motoko and Kimiko were spending a lot of time together every day... What did they talk about? Had Hata-san been talking about his nightmares waking him up, and, in turn, waking her up?
"Oh!" Reiyuriko exclaimed in sudden realization. "You know, Keitaro-san, I just realized that we haven't had any chance to sit down and talk since returning to Mizumiyo Palace. Have you gotten a chance to take in any of the sights?"
The question caught Inugami/Urashima flat-footed. Where could she be going with this? "Um... Sights?"
"It's called being a tourist, Keitaro-san. Don't get me wrong, my home is absolutely beautiful... Mizumiyo has some of the best Onsen and Sento bathhouses in Kawa City in addition to the breath-taking view of the mountains in the distance, after all. But have you really had a chance to enjoy them?" She batted her eyes at him as a hint of a smile crossed her lips.
'By the Kami...' Sho thought as his heart skipped a beat, recalling the two mountains of flesh belonging to Hata-san that he'd been granted an exposed look of while in the Sento less than a week before. The sight had been rather breath-taking, after all...
'Did Hata-san decide to tell Kimiko about what happened and Itou's trying to ask me about it in such a way that Raiden doesn't catch on that I've seen his sister naked? Or is she just attempting to make idle conversation as the real princess would and is just hitting uncomfortably close to home without realizing it?'
> Eh, who cares? < The dry mental voice responded, a hint of drool in his tone. > At least it got you to think about something better than that nightmare for me. <
The medic-nin was so disturbed that he didn't even retort to the voice. He squirmed for a few moments before deciding that as close as Hata-san and Kimi-chan were, Motoko wasn't likely to be talking about it. Not yet, at least.
"Well, I HAVE seen some rather IMPRESSIVE architecture and scenery, to be sure, but nothing I'd write my mother about." Itou's head tilted in confusion at his words, but the disguised medic could see the wheels begin to turn in her doe brown eyes. He breathed a mental sigh of relief; Motoko had NOT shared the event with Kimiko yet. "Sorry, never mind... So, what has been bringing you to the library every day this week, Princess?"
"Oh!" Reiyuriko said with a slight blush as she pushed an unlikely thought - one that was completely accurate, though hard to believe - from her mind. "Ah, well, I was talking with Narusegawa-chan the day after we returned home and she mentioned that Hoshi-kohai had told her the legend of Undine Kawa and Kawamizu."
Sho instantly recognized the name, but made a show of trying to recall - there was a security camera in the library, but no audio bugs. "Kawamizu... Wasn't that the name of the first Lord Daimyo of Kawa no Kuni?" The white-haired young man felt his heart sink... Both Hata-san and Kimi-chan had struck him as hopelessly incurable romantics; the story of Undine Kawa's divine match-making was just the kind of thing that would put decidedly INCONVENIENT thoughts into the heads of both the young women that currently played a part of Sho's daily life.
'In Kimiko's case, she's already more or less declared her intent… She's going to try and get Motoko and I together whether we want it or not.' The medic thought to himself. 'She's not going to be pushy about it, but she's going to be working at it whenever possible.'
The voice chuckled, savoring the medic-nin's dilemma. > So you might as well give in, then. You know how she is once her mind's made up. You're only going to delay the inevitable. <
The faux Princess nodded. "And one of my distant ancestors according to the family tree that I found... Kawamizu and his direct line of sons made up the First Dynasty, which ended when the last of the direct heirs died without leaving a son. That Kawamizu, the 17th Lord Daimyo of the First Dynasty, had a sister. Her husband changed his name to Mizuzaki the 1st and started the Second Dynasty. A military insurrection resulted in the Third Dynasty and after Lord Mizuru - the Daimyo of the 3rd Dynasty didn't change their names - died, the descendants of the last Daimyo of the Second Dynasty resumed control and started the Fourth Dynasty." The young woman agreed to Urashima's last spoken question.
"'Scuse me, Princess..." Nakahito Haruno spoke up, spotting an opportunity to ask a question that was in line with what a bodyguard who'd never been to River Country would ask. "I was just wondering, why DO the Lord Daimyos here change their names?"
"Mainly for a sense of continuity, Ninja-san." Kimiko answered politely, but without looking at him or using his real name; the way the real Reiyuriko would have. Nakahito flinched at the formality, visibly hurt by the fact that Kimiko was treating him like a piece of furniture. "Both the Lord Daimyo and his wife change their names for all official declarations and functions. Since my future husband will have the option of initiating a new Dynasty, he may choose a name other than Mizuzaki and Mizuho for the two of us. After our names are changed, only close personal friends are allowed to call us by our original names, which become something of an intimate touchstone to our youth - in fact, I don't even know my Honorable Father's birth name."
Sho rubbed the back of his head to rein in the conversation and figure out where Itou was going with this. "So what does your new handmaid telling you about an old story have to do with you being here, Your Highness?"
Kimiko smiled. "Ah! Well, in all honesty, it had been a long time since I'd last heard it that when I had Naru-chan repeat it to me it was as if I was hearing it for the first time in my life." A wry smile flickered across the faces of the three men in the room at the inside joke: it HAD been the first time, after all. "I must confess; it sparked a flash of romance in my heart and caused me to wonder… How much of the story was real and how much had been shrouded in myth over the generations?"
Inugami/Urashima frowned thoughtfully. Such an intellectual pursuit was not in Itou's normal modus operandi… Was there something more to her search or had playing the role of the Crown Princess started rubbing off on her?
"Since I have some free time for a change, I've been spending a few hours each day searching through the library's historical section to see if I can find records of anyone else successfully conquering the Blue Wall as Kawamizu the First did. I'm only counting the stories that appear to be a bit more conclusive than repeats of the old wives' tales versions."
'A systematic, scholarly approach.' Sho Inugami/Keitaro Urashima thought to himself. 'I'm rather impressed; doubly so since it was Kimiko who had decided to do so on her own… I would have figured she'd just jumped on the bandwagon of star-eyed dreamers the way Hata-san did. How very interesting...'
He nodded to the disguised kunoichi. "Any luck?"
The Princess nodded in agreement. "Quite a bit, actually… Apparently, the Blue Wall test has been used several times in all four Imperial Dynasties, typically to determine who would become the Lord Daimyo when the candidates had legitimate claims to the Aquamarine Throne that were too equal to be adjudicated by the legal code. The most recent occasion was when my great-great-grandfather, Mizuzaki the 24th, died and his twin sons were the candidates."
Raiden Hata frowned. "How would twins have an equal claim? I'm a twin myself, your highness; your great-great-grandma must have popped one brother out before the other."
"How uncouth!" Kimiko gasped in shock at the red-haired twin's words, flushing slightly as the true Princess would have. Nakahito swatted Hata on the back of the head the way Motoko usually did when her brother crossed the line. "And in answer to your crude question, Shinobi-chan, there was a complication in the pregnancy and they had to be delivered surgically. As a result, they were legally born at the same time."
She turned back to Inugami/Urashima "Anyways, the two brothers underwent Undine Kawa's challenge, but they were so evenly matched, physically, they actually fell from the wall at the same time. Since my great-grandfather was the last one to hit the ground, he was declared Mizuzaki the 25th. Now, the ironic part was that the first woman to reach him happened to be the fiancée that he'd become engaged to a month prior to his father's death. Since their life afterwards was like something out of a storybook - power, family, happiness, the works - it furthered the belief that Undine Kawa's promise is still in force."
"An intriguing coincidence…" Urashima replied skeptically. "But probably no more than that…"
"That's what I had thought myself - at least at first..." Kimiko agreed. "But I couldn't sleep last night, so I came in to continue searching in the hopes that reading the rather dull historical texts would put me to sleep." She walked over to a nearby shelf loaded to overflowing with books and scrolls and gently picked up a genuinely archaic looking scroll. "But then I found this... What I saw inside completely blew my tired mind away, so I wanted to take a second look when my eyes and mind were fresh."
She looked at the three young men. "In fact, why don't you gentlemen take a look as well...? Maybe I'm just starting to go crazy from the stress of getting ready for the Convocation and I'm imagining things." She stepped over to a study table and gingerly unrolled the scroll. "This is a historical record of my Country, commissioned when the Fourth Dynasty came to power, ten generations of Mizuzaki ago." The brown-haired woman said, pointing at the lengthy paragraphs of ornate script that started as soon as the inch-wide fancy blue/gold paper edging - designed to help the scroll resist accidental tearing - stopped.
Nakahito Haruno nodded as he looked over Kimiko's left shoulder. "So what about this old scroll has you questioning yourself, Reiyuriko-hime?"
The disguised kunoichi unrolled the scroll another half meter or so. "It's this..."
A red circle with a six or seven centimeter diameter appeared in the middle of the scroll. Within the circle, on the upper half of it, was a red stylized-looking mountain range that was fused with the left and right sides of the circle. The mountains had a snaking blue river that fed into a blue lake that filled the lower half of the circle and stopped touching the bottom of the red mountain range.
Raiden Hata leaned forward to read the text immediately beneath the faded seal. "Imperial Seal of the First Lord Daimyo Kawamizu and Lady Queen Mizuka of Kawa no Kuni - later known as the Land of Rivers. Created by the first Imperial couple when they combined the mysterious red tattoo that appeared on Lord Kawamizu's back after the Divine Megumi Undine Kawa healed the knife wound received during the Blue Wall Challenge and the blue mark on Lady Mizuka-sama's back. The royal artisans made painstaking drawings of the marks in question and, to the surprise of all, when the two marks were overlaid, the images meshed perfectly - like two pieces in a puzzle - barring minor discrepancies due to the artists' hands shifting during the process. This seal fell out of style in the middle of the Second Dynasty and was replaced with the current seal of the Lord Daimyo.'"
The young brawler's eyes tightened in confusion. "Okay, what's the big deal about some ancient mark?"
Kimiko Itou looked to the roof. "Why? Why did I get saddled with this idiot?"
"What?" Raiden demanded.
Sho's green eyes - he'd at least had the presence of mind to remember to use the Henge no Jutsu despite the poor night's sleep - flashed. "I think I see where you're going with this, Princess..." He looked over at Raiden and made a quick series of hand gestures out of sight of the cameras that Motoko's brother would see.
The red-haired fighter nodded and raised his hands in the Rat sign. A faint scent of ozone, like the smell of the air just after a lightning strike, arose as Hata created an invisible sphere of electromagnetic radiation that quickly blanketed the library. As the energy pulse reached the video camera on the far wall, the camera's lens began to rotate wildly as it tried to cope with the interference of its circuitry. "Okay, we're in the clear."
Nakahito looked at Sho in surprise. "I thought Tanaka-sensei said we weren't supposed to break cover for anything?"
"I'm afraid we have to in this case... What Kimi may have found is too important for us to potentially mistranslate to each other if we try and keep up appearances." The medic, senior team member by fiat rather than choice, said. He looked at Itou. "You're thinking this blue mark that Mizuka the First had is the same mysterious blue mark that appeared on Reiyuriko-hime's back shortly before she disappeared, aren't you?"
"I'm absolutely sure of it, Sho-kun!" Kimiko Itou agreed. "I have spent eight days practicing the Henge no Jutsu with Motoko-chan so that I would be able to make sure I could duplicate the mark perfectly without being able to see it. It's identical to the blue section of the Imperial Seal here." She tapped the mark on the scroll.
Nakahito Haruno's eyes widened as realization set in. "So you're thinking that if this story is true, somewhere out there might be a guy with the red half of the seal?"
"More than that, 'Hito…" The medic chimed in. "If the blue mark is unique to the woman and the red the man, then, according to the stories, that means the man would have needed to have faced the Blue Wall challenge and, when he fell, Reiyuriko-hime had to have been near him when he fell to receive the woman's mark. Since, according to the Princess's medical records, the blue mark appeared on her sometime last fall, that tells us when need to find someone who completed the challenge, but someone who did so without attracting the wrath of the Imperial Palace Guard. Fugato told us that the Blue Wall is studded with pressure sensors to alert security whenever someone gets on top of the wall."
"So that means that the man was either given permission..." Nakahito began.
"Or our mysterious Genjutsu specialist, the one who attacked Lord Mizuzaki, has managed to infiltrate the Imperial Guard and has some measure of authority as well!" Raiden chimed in, finally grasping the vein of the conversation.
"Close, Raiden, close." Haruno corrected. "They don't necessarily need to be in a position of authority, just be in a position where they could deactivate the pressure sensor network on the wall. So if we assume a standard four member ninja cell was involved, like Miho-sensei and Takahashi have come to believe, it answers so much! One disables the sensors, but then uses Genjutsu to make the guards on duty believe they're still on. Number two fools the video cameras that can see the wall while number three hides our mystery man from onlookers during the effort. All while number four goes to work on the Daimyo or supervises the other three. My only question then, is why would someone go to the effort to hire ninja to help him test an old myth?"
"People have done crazier things in the name of their beliefs..." The medic-nin said as he shook his head. "You're also assuming that our wall challenger did so willingly. The man could have just as easily been snared in a Genjutsu that forced him to walk the wall until the ninjas no longer needed him out of the way."
"And there's another part to this myth, 'Hito." Kimiko whispered, her eyes glinting as they did when she had romantic notions running through her head. Haruno and Raiden looked at the elaborately disguised kunoichi in confusion. "If the legends are true and Reiyuriko discovered this mark on her body, it means that the Princess wasn't kidnapped or coerced into leaving Mizumiyo Palace; she would have gone willingly with whoever had the matching red mountain mark."
"Why on earth would she do that?" Raiden, who either hadn't heard the story or hadn't been paying attention, asked in confusion.
Itou looked at Motoko's twin. "It is said that the one who walks the Blue Wall until he or she can go no further will be blessed to find his/her soul mate, whom Undine Kawa, the Goddess of Fate, would arrange to be nearby at the time they fall from the wall. Any resident of River Country - a woman of the Royal House especially - takes this story as absolute gospel." She gestured to the scroll. "If she contemplated the mark long enough and recalled the story or this seal, Princess Reiyuriko would have come to the same conclusion: that had somehow found her soul mate and future husband! The fact that she felt that she had to abandon her life to be with him suggests that the man may not be someone her father likes or may approve of…"
Sho snapped his fingers as a sudden piece of the puzzle came to light. "Like if he'd been exiled from the Land of Rivers?" The others looked at him. "Hoshi Fugato said there was a Regional Prince, one friendly with but not really close to Princess Reiyuriko, who was exiled a few months back…"
"Why?" Haruno asked in confusion.
Sho looked between Kimiko and Nakahito. "Because the Prince, Kodansyo, was caught in the Imperial Family's Onsen while Reiyuriko was using it! It was a violation of that protocol I pointed out to Miho-sensei. The Onsen is right against the Blue Wall: if our mysterious walker fell from atop the wall at in the right spot, he could easily fall into the Onsen..."
Inugami stood and began to pace contemplatively. "Let's assume for a moment that the ninja's job wasn't to help the man walk the wall, but to get him in trouble and cause a strain between the Lord Daimyo and Kodansyo's father, Kosha, who is the daimyo that is in charge of the region that Kawa City falls in. Mizuzaki and Kosha were practically brothers growing up, but now that his only son was exiled by the mentally disturbed Lord Daimyo, they're at odds at the moment."
"That means that had I not treated Mizuzaki and he 'detonated' during the Convocation the way the curse was designed to; Kosha would probably be the FIRST to call for a vote of no confidence in Mizuzaki. If a no-confidence vote were successful – let's face it with his most loyal daimyo turning on him, it would be the final nail in the coffin of the Lord Daimyo's reign – Mizuzaki would be deemed 'dead' from a legal standpoint and Reiyuriko's decision would have to be moved up."
Itou frowned in thought. "Prince Muso wa Akago was considered the top contender to becoming the next Lord Daimyo. Reiyuriko's diary – before she stopped writing in it – says that while she didn't love him, nor he her, she was prepared to do her duty and marry him regardless. So whoever was involved wanted Daimyo Akago's family to take control…? Only it backfired; Reiyuriko and Muso broke up because Undine Kawa's mark must have appeared on the Princess and the now exiled Prince!"
"Somebody must have demanded a refund…" Raiden said with a chuckle.
Nakahito looked confused. "But why would the traitor – presumably this Daimyo Akago – that hired the ninja run the risk? Why not just make the Prince walk into the Princess's bath openly?"
"That's a flawed assumption, 'Hito." Sho pointed out. "Just because Akago's son was the likely candidate and benefits from this doesn't mean Akago is behind the plan. It could have just as easily been someone with an issue with Daimyo Kosha or someone hoping to capitalize on the political instability of a potential dynastic change."
"Okay, that's fair, but why have this Kodas…" Haruno started.
"Kodansyo." Itou and Inugami corrected him simultaneously.
"Whatever. Why make the Prince walk the wall in the first place if there is some historical proof that it works?"
The medic shrugged. "The ninja involved probably aren't native to the Land of Rivers – Tanigakure is beholden to the Lord Daimyo, so they undoubtedly have a rule against getting involved in inter-district in-fighting – so they don't know about the myth or discount it as a myth. They figure wearing the guy out and then dumping him in some sensitive location while he's unconscious is a sure way to get him in trouble. The wall – if they managed to control the mundane palace guards as you and Raiden suspect – would be a PERFECT spot to compel him to walk around – he wouldn't accidentally bump into someone up there."
Haruno nodded. "Okay, I can see that… Only before they can decide where to put him, the Prince, who's probably in decent condition, but not up to ninja standards of endurance, falls from the wall into the Onsen."
Kimiko looked at her friend. "And before they can grab him, Reiyuriko sees him appear from out of nowhere and screams in surprise at the intruder in the bath and Kodansyo gets arrested…"
"Mission accomplished." Raiden said. "Or so they think."
Itou nods to the male Hata. "Only before he's exiled, the Goddess's marks appear on their backs. Reiyuriko-hime puts two and two together and realizes that she's supposed to be with Kodansyo." She frowns, remembering the rule. "The only problem is that since her father gets the final say in the fate of the peeping Tom and HIS judgment is impaired by the Genjutsu specialists, her efforts to commute his exile fail.
"Not long thereafter, the Princess becomes increasingly headstrong; after all, she believes in the story of Kawamizu and knows the exiled Prince is the man she's destined to marry. She begins to figure out means of leaving the Palace undetected, disappearing from the security grid for several hours at a time until she finally perfects her escape and goes to him."
Nakahito shook his head. "How would she know where to look?" He asked pointedly. "Once he was exiled, the Prince could have literally gone ANYWHERE on the continent." Haruno looked at Inugami. "I know you, Sho... You're rational to a fault. Even if you bought this whole 'Goddess destiny' thing as fact, you'd never believe that there would be some kind of divine connection to allow her to track him to wherever he went. I know there many forms of magic in the world, but this story sounds like it might have come out of one of your sister's romance novels…"
Sho Inugami was dumbfounded. 'When did it become necessary for Nakahito Haruno, of all people, to become the voice of reason for our team? And not only the voice, but one that's absolutely correct!' He sighed to himself. 'Damn... All this strangeness with Motoko, the nightmares and this whole damn mission is actually beginning to affect my ability to think rationally...'
> And finally a light turns on! < The dry voice chuckled sardonically. > I was wondering how long it was going to take you to realize it. It's been happening ever since Raiden spilled the beans to us about Motoko-chan's feelings, you doofus. <
The medic frowned - more to himself than at the others. 'All right, you were right - for a change. Don't rub it in; I'm not about to jump the gun with Hata-san just because of this.' He gritted to the gloating voice.
He nodded to the red clad ninja. "You've got a great point there, 'Hito... Surely they must have communicated with each other somehow using some undetected means. Any correspondence to the Princess would have been examined by the security teams. And thanks to the city-wide lockdown, they have to still be in Kawa City... Even if she tried to disguise herself, I can't see the palookas at the city gates letting her out without requiring some kind of proof of her identity."
Sho turned and threw Kimiko a thumb up. "Way to go, Kimi; this could be some critical intel if it pans out."
The kunoichi blushed slightly at one of the medic-nin's rare, genuine compliments. "Well, at least now I feel like I've done something useful on this mission."
"You have, Princess." Inugami agreed. He turned to Haruno. "'Hito: I need you to find Miho-sensei and tell her about this right away. If there is a man with the matching mountain mark in this city, HE'LL likely be easier to find than the real Princess out of all the fakes that the ones hiding Reiyuriko have arranged for. No one here has mentioned it, even in passing as they have the Princess's mark, so there PROBABLY aren't any copies floating around out there to confuse the issue."
"She's on the roof of the Palace..."
Sho raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'And that matters... Why?'
"On my way…" Haruno said, running to the far exit of the library that gave access to the family garden. He opened the doors and made a terrific leap out of sight to begin the ascent to the top.
Sho looked at Hata. "Raiden: Find Tanaka-sensei and update him on this. Since he's disguised as a member of the Palace Guard, he should be in a position to be able to figure out who would have the access to deactivate the pressure sensors. Assuming the security systems are on an equal level to those back home, while the Genjutsu artist may have been able to fool the living guards, the computers surely track whenever a critical piece of the perimeter defenses gets disabled. If we know WHEN it happened, we can confirm WHO. Mr. Exiled Prince Number 20 is our most likely candidate, but we need to confirm that, too."
"Yosh!" The male half of the Hata twins agreed excitedly as he turned to leave.
Kimiko's arm shot out to catch his shoulder. "Not so fast, cowboy. Wait until we all leave - the cameras will turn back on as soon as you leave the room and whoever's watching might wonder why the two ninja suddenly abandoned their posts."
"Oh... Right…" The Genin agreed unabashedly.
Itou turned to Inugami. "What about me, Sho-kun? Surely there's something I can do!"
The medic-nin nodded. "You've got the hardest part, Kimi... While I go inform Shao Fukamichu so I can get his permission to access the necessary records to confirm some of these suppositions, you and Hata-san," Raiden blinked in confusion. "Not you, Raiden; your sister." The fist fighter's confusion cleared. "Anyways, Kimiko, you and Hata-san need to start searching every square inch of the Imperial Family's residential area."
Kimiko blinked at the odd order. "What are we looking for, Sho?"
"Something all the other investigators managed to miss… A hidden cache of letters or a radio transmitter that somehow got snuck in and allow the two lovebirds to stay in touch after Kodansyo's exile; some means of secretly communicating. If we can find that, hopefully we can then figure out how Reiyuriko managed to locate her missing Mr. Right so she knew where to go."
Itou frowned. "But what if these mystical marks that appeared on their backs were what allowed her to do it? Like magnets or something?"
Sho sighed; she raised a valid point. "Then we're only going to find Reiyuriko-hime when - and if - she wants to be found... That or we crack whatever barrier has allowed the lovebirds to hide from all the investigators so far."
"In other words, I'm SCREWED and have to keep up this whole façade?" The brown-haired woman moaned in a frustrated question.
The medic/aristocrat nodded, patting her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "I'm afraid so, Princess... I'm afraid so."
* * *
Time: 10:35 AM
"This is 'Hashi." The blonde Genin from Konoha with the scar over his left eye reported into the microphone end of his radio. "I've completed my investigations of the suspects in Sector 4. No traces of the target at any of the possible locations. Kyouran and I are about to head to sector 22."
"Hold your position for a moment, Takahashi." Miho Hyuuga's buttery warm tone responded in his right earbud speaker. "We have a possible Code 3 development taking place up here; attempting to confirm..."
Kyouran - who wasn't wearing a speaker, but whose hearing was good enough to hear the Jonin's voice from Takahashi's radio - growled thoughtfully. [Code 3?] He asked in the feline language that Takahashi understood as easily as he did the human language, but lacked the resonance to speak it very well. Since Kyouran understood Human, but couldn't speak it, they were able to talk with each other in a way that was fluent, but different. [There are so many code numbers, Pack Brother... Which one is Code 3 again?]
Takahashi smiled; something that he didn't usually do around others. "Our noses aren't sensitive enough to use scent cues to add extra layers of meaning to what we say the way your species can, Kyouran." He answered as he took a seat on a nearby box in the alley they were standing in. "But to answer your question, a Code 3 means that new intel has come in that could result in a drastic change to a mission's operating procedure."
[Huh? My Human's good, but not that good, Brother...] The jungle cat growled, his scent expressing confusion.
"Think of it…" The Genin paused to figure out how best to explain it to the panther. "Okay, imagine that you're out hunting for a rabbit and suddenly you find traces of a wounded deer instead... Do you keep chasing the rabbit or go for the deer?"
[As long as it isn't a Nara clan deer, I go for the wounded prey. Those Nara deer are tricky bastards; I leave them alone.] The black panther responded as he hopped on to the box beside the Genin, butting his head against the young man's hand to get him to scratch his head. [But I think I understand where you're going with this... But we're the scouts, aren't we? Where could they get information without us knowing about it first?] He mewed with a wry lilt to his tone.
A chuckle escaped Takahashi as he rubbed Kyouran's furry skull. Felines had unusual ideas of humor when compared to Humans, but Takahashi had spent so much time among Kyouran's pride since being given the opportunity to train the cat as a Neko-nin that, in addition to becoming an "honorary" cat - hence Kyouran referring to him as Pack Brother rather than a true feline name, the Genin had started to grasp the nuances of panther humor. "Maybe one of the others in the Palace learned something from one of the servants or something that the other investigators missed. Hard to say for sure…"
The cat mulled that over for a few moments. [Could be... I doubt Raiden or that one who smells of burning things...]
"Nakahito Haruno."
[Right, him... I doubt they found anything. I suppose it could have been Itou or Motoko... Or maybe the one Motoko hopes to breed with; the one with the white pelt that smells like a vet...]
Takahashi blinked in surprise. "Inugami?! Motoko-san... And Oni?!" He breathed, stunned by the thought. He looked at the cub in shock. "I know she likes him, but breeding? Are you serious, Kyouran?"
The panther nodded in a human-style response. [Whenever White Pelt is near her, Motoko's scent shifts slightly in the ranges that you humans can't smell. When it does so, it reminds me of the breeding scent that the mature females of the pack give off to indicate readiness, acceptance, and desire to mate. Since we started this trip, the level of the scent she gives off has grown increasingly stronger as she comes nearer to reaching mating age. In fact, it's so strong now that it clings to her even when he isn't around. You didn't know?]
"I never noticed, no." Takahashi admitted "I mean, sure, she's defended him even when she had no need or reason to, but... Motoko and Oni..." The blonde young man repeated shaking his head. "That's a match I never would have put money on. How about him? Do you think that he returns her desire?"
Kyouran's tail twitched back and forth as he growled contemplatively. [It's hard to say. I don't like his scent; there's something about it that seems WRONG about it, somehow.]
"The vet smell..? Well, he is a vet for humans... Or at least is trying to become one."
[No, not the vet smell… I don't care for it, true, but on some people it can be acceptable, unless the person also smells like dog.] The panther mewed contemplatively. [With White Pelt it's something else; something I can't figure out because I've never sensed anything like it before. Something about him puts my fur on edge when he's nearby, but it's not a scent…]
The jungle cat's tail made a negligent sweep. [Anyways, I THINK I might have smelled mating scent from him that wasn't Motoko's, but at the time I smelled it, it was all mixed up with stronger scents, like fear, insane hope, and longing. I've smelled something like it between other human couples that were in the process of working towards a mating arrangement, but for them the mating scent was the strongest of the others, not the weakest.]
The cat gave a human style head shake of negation as he sniffed at the air. [Humans make such a big deal out of breeding... It amazes me, given how much your species overcomplicates something so natural like mating, that there are as many of you as there are in the world. Our way is so much easier…]
"Yeah, well, for some reason humans - mostly the women, but many men, too - prefer one-on-one mating relationships rather than it simply being any mature male having his way with every available mature female when they are in heat. Some like Lord Ryoushi and Lady Kyoubou follow the human mode, but they're the exception to the general rule."
Before Kyouran could respond to his partner's comments, the wind shifted. The cat caught a scent on the air that caused the fur on his tail to stand on end and froze his tail mid-wave in excitement so that it resembled a thick, bushy bottle brush.
Takahashi, seeing the signs of the alert signal, looked around. The side-street/alley they were in was empty in both directions. "What is it, Kyouran? I don't see anything."
[Not seen. Not yet at least.] The panther answered as he took a longer, more deliberate breath to confirm the delicate scent that he could just barely detect over the odors of the city. [I believe I have the Princess's scent, Pack Brother... I could be wrong, though; there's a musky odor overpowering it. I'm not sure what the musk is from... It's an animal of some kind, but nothing native to the forest around Konoha.]
The Genin felt a rush of excitement. "Sweet, buddy! Which way?"
[Follow me!] The cat growled excitedly as he dashed towards the exit on the left hand side of the box. Takahashi follow in hot pursuit, slowing as Kyouran did as they reached the mouth of the alley. The cat nodded to the left. [Coming from the south…]
The blonde young man edged forward to take a stealthy peek around the corner of the marble brick building that seemed to be the primary building element in the city. The alley was connected to one of the major arteries of Kawa City, one of the canals that lead to the foot of the bluff that Mizumiyo Palace stood atop with a pair of wide roads on either side. There were dozens, maybe hundreds, of people walking as far as the eye could see. 'Well, it is approaching lunch time, after all...'
[The musky scent is getting stronger, as is the Princess's scent, but I'm starting to lose her scent in the crowd.] Kyouran reported softly.
'That means I need to look for someone northbound...' The Genin realized. Most of the traffic was heading south, so it made noticing those fighting the flow far easier.
The young man's jaw dropped slightly as he focused on the third person that was approaching the duo's general location.
On the far side of the cargo canal was a statuesque woman, between two and four years older than the Genin. She wore a long-sleeved black jumpsuit with a pink vest the same shade as Sakura Haruno's hair. The vest had a pale gray lining a few shades lighter than Oni Inugami's left eye. Her look was completed with a pair of white gloves that bore pink accents that rose to the middle of her forearms and she had a tawny brown fox stole draped around her neck.
The woman had long hair that went beyond the area that Takahashi could see from his vantage point. The hair was a mélange of Inugami white and Sakura pink, but carried a silken sheen similar to Kyouran's black pelt. Barring the unusual hair color, the woman's face and body style made her a dead ringer for a slightly older Kimiko Itou.
"Wow..." The Genin breathed in awe at the elegant, yet somehow feral, beauty that he saw across the way. "She's easily a match for Ino-chan in the looks department! If that's not Princess Reiyuriko in disguise, I'm seeing things."
Kyouran hopped up on Takahashi's shoulder and looked around. [Where?]
The young man nodded imperceptively towards the woman. "Northbound at 11 o'clock; west side of the river bank."
The panther growled a negation. [That can't be the target. Her pelt is the wrong color, Brother.] He sniffed the air. [I smell the mating scent from you. Are you sure it's your mind you're listening to?]
Takahashi smiled at his partner's ribald comment. "Okay, sure, I wouldn't mind mating with her. But as for her hair color being off, Humans have ways other than Ninjutsu to alter the color of our pelts; either to attract attention or to disguise oneself."
[Truly? Is that why Ino has different colors over her eyes on different days?]
"Something similar to makeup, yes… It would explain how Reiyuriko's remained hidden so long... Humans identify people by certain things: hair, face, clothing and body shape, primarily, but occasionally by scent as well if it's strong enough. By simply changing her hair color and her clothing styles, she's just another good-looking woman on the street."
[And what purpose does that creature around her neck serve? The musk I smell is definitely coming from it.] Kyouran asked out of curiosity.
"It looks like a fox, but it's not the normal red foxes we have around Konoha... Maybe a desert fox from the Land of Wind? We're not too far from that border... Well, some women wear animal pelts as a fashion accessory. In Reiyuriko-hime's case, she's probably wearing it to disguise her scent. She apparently wasn't counting on her father hiring ninjas to find her..." He responded; frowning as a thought tickled at the edges of his mind in response to what he'd just said.
[I really don't think it's her, Brother... Sure, that fox is smelly, but HER scent doesn't seem as crisp as it should be. In fact, it smells as weak as the scent on the sample the client gave us.] He countered.
"Well, the hair sample WAS over a month old."
The panther nodded. [That's my point. The scent I'm trying to track is her natural scent, rather than artificial scents like the cute girls in the village seem to enjoy using. The Princess's scent should be fresh if it's really her, not faint.]
The Genin's frown deepened. "That's a good point, but LOOK at her: her face is almost identical to Itou-san's. Now, the chemicals needed to alter her hair color could be masking her natural hair scent beyond what that fox musk is hiding. If that's not the princess, I'm the third cousin of a rabbit..." Kyouran gave off a feline laugh in response to the joke. "Just keep an eye on her while I try reporting this to Hyuuga-sensei."
[Okay.]
Takahashi turned slightly to keep his voice from carrying accidentally as he pushed the TRANSMIT button on his throat microphone. "Hyuuga-sensei? This is Takahashi."
"This... *** Miho." The Jonin's voice came back, crackling and distorted by static.
The Genin made some adjustments on his transmitter. "Hyuuga-sensei? This is 'Hashi; I can barely hear you."
More static came back as the oldest Leaf kunoichi in Kawa City responded. "I've... *** insi... *** Palace. What... *** it?"
'Crap...' The young man grimaced. The radios were at the edge of their maximum effective range on this job. If she'd said what he thought she said and left the roof to enter the Palace proper, his transmissions to her would be every bit as garbled as hers were. "We've found a trail, Hyuuga-sensei. I repeat we have a possible line on the target. Kyouran is picking up her scent. Over."
[Barely...]
Takahashi rolled his eyes. "The radios are barely working as it is, Kyouran. I'm not going to say that and confuse the issue."
[Work quickly, Brother; she's moving out of range and I'm losing her scent. I'll still be able to track the musk for another few seconds after I lose her, but not for long.]
The Genin hit his transmitter so hard that it would probably leave a bruise on his neck later. "Hyuuga-sensei, we're losing the trail... Requesting permission to pursue prospective target before she gets away."
"N... ***" The woman's now barely understandable responded, white noise squealing in his ear like an injured boar. "Out... *** Over!" More static burst over the lines, erasing anything understandable in the Jonin's voice.
"Hyuuga-sensei, I didn't catch that." Takahashi responded, keeping his cool. "We have to go. There's no telling if we'll find her trail again if we lose it now. If you can hear me, Kyouran and I are headed north from our last location."
A painful burst of static was all that came back.
"Yeouch!" The blonde Genin moaned as he popped the speaker out of his ear. "This damn thing is absolutely useless!" He tugged at the black band around his neck, which separated with the sound of unfastening Velcro, and tucked it into one of the pouches inside his sash as he turned to look at his partner. "You still have her?"
[Only just.]
"Alright. We'll follow from the rooftops for as long as we can. She didn't seem to be worried about anyone following her, so I doubt she'll bother checking the rooftops. Do you think you can climb these walls yourself?"
[My claws will make due when my skill with the Wall-Walking jutsu fails me.] Kyouran answered confidently as he hopped from his perch.
"All right. Let's go catch us a Princess."
* * *
To be continued