Rabbits, Foxes, and... Mongeese? [P]

Supposedly, there was a rare breed of rabbits which possessed the softest fur that could be imagined. So soft, it was said, that you would be unable to wear anything else after but a single time wearing it. But these rabbits were rare, and some claimed they were intelligent. Sentient. And powerful. A summon race, in essence.

Keina did not buy it. If there was such a summon race, it would have been summoned to extinction long ago. Besides, Keina did not need special rabbits. Keina did not need super soft fur.

Because apparently EVERY rabbit had some connection to... something. It probably was not chakra, because supposedly it would work for Keina even though her chakra system was utterly fucked. Like... beyond fucked, honestly. Some days, it felt like she just... did not have any chakra. Which made it very weird to fight. To be taught how to fight.

Lots of ninja just... do not realize how often they use chakra. It is practically instinctual. How do you become momentarily stronger, faster, than your normal? And by extreme amounts?

Chakra.

The answer was chakra. The slightest, practically subconscious, movements of chakra. That is what let ninja perform feats that were outside the capabilities of their bodies.

For normal civilians, some said that adrenaline played a similar role. Keina was not so sure about that. Most civilians had a better chakra system than Keina's. Hers was filled with breaks and blocks, in addition to being thin. She was told that the wells of chakra within her body were lacking, and that it was actually a miracle that she was alive at all.

Sometimes, Keina wished she could just be rid of all her chakra. It would make life easier. Having to strain to suppress what little she had was obnoxiously difficult when she was trying to be stealthy. SHE HAD NO CONTROL! Not really. All the systems in her body that were SUPPOSED to let her control chakra did not work or were outright missing. If she could cut out her chakra system and survive the process, she would be very happy. No longer needing to strain to get it down, and no longer having to devote some part of her consciousness to keep it down.

At least she passed for a civilian most of the time. Most people, if they were actively sensing, would barely notice her. And if they were not actively sensing? She was the stealthiest ninja in the village, more or less. Trained in silence, and practically undetectable.

But being literally undetectable would be nice. This was one of the many things that Keina devoted time into researching. Finding out if it was possible to purge her body of chakra.

So few people were born with her condition though. If it was possible for a normal person was one matter. But if Keina found a method for a normal person... it would likely not work for her. Too few ways to let the chakra get out.

[500]

She was pretty sure that her chakra had been going down, in fact. A slow, ever descending spiral. Somewhat delayed, perhaps, by the attempted training with the Queensguard.

They were good people. She missed them.

But, back then, Keina was not able to sense chakra. So she did not have any actual proof of things then. Hell, she did not even have any proof now. Not even proof just for herself. She had a feeling. That was it. The feeling was saying that a part of her body was getting weaker. But that feeling came as every part of her grew stronger. It made little to no sense to her.

Unless the part growing weaker was the part she had no control over.

The part she had long since given up trying to control.

The part she had been told was defunct, broken.

Worthless.

Keina once spent a day in the archives, looking for information about others like her. It was scarce. Extremely scarce.

At one point, she thought she had found something. A tale of a ninja, yes, a fully fledged ninja. who suffered an "inability to use ninjutsu and genjutsu". And she was so interested in this person! Was he like her? Was his body damaged in some weird, abstract way? Broken?

No. The answer was no. He was a legendary ninja. He never encountered the issues Keina had: an inability to control chakra at all. He could not expel chakra, was one of the proposed theories. The most accepted theory, even, though certainly not the only one. He still possessed amazing control over the chakra within his body.

Keina found tales of other ninja, those who's chakra systems were weak. Awfully weak. They could perform only the most basic of jutsu. But they had perfect control. In one case, even,one was able to overcome the issue by finding an "immense well of chakra to draw from".

It did not elaborate. The obvious guess was a bijuu, but... something told Keina it was not that. Regardless, though, these people were not who she was looking for. They could still control their internal chakra. While their abilities were perhaps lessened, and at the very least made harder to learn than their peers, these people often became masterful users of taijutsu and weapons.

In ways that were completely unavailable to Keina.

There were tales of people like Keina. But none were ever a ninja. None helped to protect a clan, or a village. Not in any meaningful capacity, at least.

Keina was one of the forgotten people. The fact that she was SOMETIMES able to keep up with her peers was nothing short of a miracle. That's what the books seemed to imply.

So, Keina had to do whatever it took to be as strong, as fast as she possible could be. She was already faster than most others. Until they made a few handseals and outran her without even breaking a sweat. Keina knew that it fucking sucked.

[500]

Lamenting over defects was one way to keep busy. Today, however, Keina had different missions. While, officially, she was hunting rabbits. She kind of had a few skins already, and only needed to collect a few more for the order to be complete. She could collect those later today, after she investigated a few things. See, not that long a time ago, when she was on the way to a different mission, she had dropped a package off at the post office. It was a story she had written.

An embarrassing one.

That she was shipping off to some friends out in the country. Now, to keep this embarrassing story from being read in the village she had, perhaps foolishly, placed a trap upon the package. It would put to sleep anyone who triggered the trap and make a funny noise. A simple fuinjutsu, according to her friend that had applied it to the package (he was always handy to have in a pinch).

Well, as she had been heading towards the gate... she had heard the sound.

For some reason, her package had already been opened. She did not understand how, or why. But she risked being late if she had gone to investigate.

She had investigated. And she had found one of the mail sorters. In a restroom. Asleep with her package. She did not touch the package. This turn of events bothered her too much. She snuck out of the building, and let the situation develop naturally.

The next day, she went back and asked to speak to the sorter that had stolen her package.

Interrogation was an interesting game. Especially when you were not legally interrogating someone. You had much less power. They were there on their own purposes, not held there against their will. So, you had to start off with something strong, something that kept them there.

Keina started off simply. "I'd rather not involve the police. I like my writing, but I would rather not that specific story end up in an evidence list and publicly readable."

Truth. She would rather avoid the police. Not for only that reason, Keina and those she worked alongside had long since grown uncertain of the police. Too... chummy with some sections of the ninja forces.

But a truth nonetheless. "But I will," a threat. "If you did not have a good reason for opening that package."

Thankfully, the courier was not a strong willed person. Apparently, he had been told to open and examine anything being mailed by a ninja if the ninja was sick or if the letter or package was shipping to outside the village. When asked if it was a post office implemented policy, he froze. Seemingly realizing he had already said too much. It... did not take much effort to make him keep talking.

No, he was being paid by some third party. He took notes on all the packages he checked, and brought the notes every Friday to the mystery man.

[500]

Keina had left after that. No need to ask more questions. She did not want to make it TOO obvious. She did not even threaten the boy to stay quiet.

He was likely being played. Thought he was helping his village, when in reality... Well. Keina did not know the reality. Perhaps he was helping his village, in an odd way. Perhaps there was some infiltrator, or an outright traitor, and Keina's mail was an unfortunate side effect.

She... did not believe that story.

It was Tuesday when she interrogated the boy. It was Wednesday when she walked into the red light district, wearing a tight, white t-shirt and extremely short, frayed jean shorts. She had told Masashi before: the perfect place to hold a meeting if you want everyone who sees you going their to think they know what you are doing.

He had not caught on. A shame. He would have been a much needed ally. He might still be. But... Keina had her doubts, too. She doubted Masashi would see things the way she did. But she hoped. She dearly, dearly hoped.

She stood on the corner of one building. Several people approached her. Talked to her. She played aloof. Chewed some gum almost violently. Ridiculed them for thinking they had the money.

Then she saw a familiar face.

Not a friendly face.

Not a pretty face.

An unfortunate face, one that tried to give away the years of pain and agony he had suffered through.

Two lines, one above his eyes, one below his nose. One vertical line, running down the middle of his face, bisecting the nose.

Scars, at one point. The scars were still there. Now, however, there were tattoos. He had explained it to Keina once before. He was already recognizable, no way to hide it. If someone knew to look for him, well. There was no mistaking him in a crowd.

But tattoos gave him control over his appearance. Gave him some amount of power. And they looked less disgusting than the scars did. Not that the scars were disgusting. They were old, pink, if Keina remembered them correctly. The type of scar that never fully goes away, but practically becomes skin.

The one approaching was named Izaya, but... right now?

"Sugar!" Keina said, a bit loudly, as she walked towards Izaya.

"How's my baby girl doing," he said as she grabbed onto his arm. The exact manor she did such was... inappropriate. But they had a cover to maintain. It was a short walk to a nearby "bar". Not the same one Keina had brought Masashi to, once upon a time. No, this one was larger, and had a significant basement.

Izaya opened the door for Keina and walked them to the bar. "Two angel shots, please."

Keina would pipe up. "And a room. Public, cause my sugar here likes his-"

"That's enough, baby girl. But yes, that is our request." The bartender shrugged a bit, and pointed to the staircase

[500]

The door slammed shut behind them as the pair began walking down the stairs. Keina VERY quickly let go of Izaya when that happened. She stepped a bit away from the man, though not in the outright rude way.

Keina kept up appearances when they mattered. She did NOT need to keep them up here. She began removing the pins in her hair that let it hold the gaudy, like, buns on a central super bun hairstyle. She hated it so much. But between the hairstyle and the makeup, she was pretty fucking hard to recognize, even by people that knew her well.

As a side note, blue eye shadow and fake dimples did NOT flatter her face, at all. Nor did the false eyelashes.

Keina was certain she would never live it down if Masashi EVER realized she dressed likethis, even if he did know the reason.

He did not let her forget about the dress, after all. And that was a one day thing. Keina had donned this getup dozens of times already.

She was growing tired of it.

But this was a world of secrecy. She had to pretend to be not-a-ninja. That is why she had a small rental, being rented by one "Samantha Sugar". Yeah, the name was super face. But Keina did actually pay rent, and the owner actually knew who she was.

The owner was Izaya, after all.

He claimed to have cut her a deal.

Keina just never felt the need to point out that she knew she was paying more than the neighbors in the apartment complex.

That knowledge might serve her better some other day. Possibly. (Also she easily had enough money).

Izaya placed one hand against the wall, and a small weasel popped into existence around his neck.

No, not a weasel.

A mongoose.

Keina was not sure when he had drawn the blood for the contract. But that did not matter. Izaya was the most important man she needed to talk to today.

But she could wait. She wanted to hear about the meeting proceedings today.

Still on the staircase, Keina whispered to Izaya. "You do not often show up. Why today?"

He smiled. "My informants told me there might be someone with some important, specific news. News that I specifically would want."

Keina stopped on the steps. Izaya took to more steps before stopping himself and turning around.

"You know."

"I do, my sweet Keina." Keina's face grew into a scowl. Izaya let out a light chuckle. "My informants see much, you know. The post offices had caught my attention when an especially loud, strange sound emanating from one was reported to me. But they could not find the source. That is,"

"Until the next day, when they ran into me."

"Exactly!"

"So your claim is you have nothing to do wi-"

"I would not dare tamper with the mail. That only ever leads to mass hatred and a desire for vengeance. I'd watch them write instead!"

[500]

Their conversation lasted for awhile, before they stepped down the last of the stairs to join the rest of the meeting. No more than three times they had to stand apart to let others proceed.

Keina did not trust Izaya. Not at all. He was, as far as she could tell, an unrepentant criminal.

But he was helping them out. Helping out the people of Hoshigakure. The people of Haven. And as much as Keina had looked into the man... she had found nothing but ambivalence. He was a knowledge seeker, and not much else. While his seeking was not even bordering, but rather straight on espionage... he never left the village. Keina had once spent two weeks trying to find some sign that he was feeding intel out of the village.

But no, she had found nothing. And he had proven instrumental. He had tipped off the group about a spy. He had been the one to tell people that... things were not alright in Hoshigakure. He uncovered the faked death of So Chan, and was able to find So Chan himself. That left only Keina's own faction, those following the ideals of the missing Tomi Udgorn, and the other faction: those following The Fat Man. They were dangerous, for they were violent. But they had been peaceful for so long, years now, that few thought they still existed.

Izaya supplied the knowledge that they did still exist. And that they were getting into the deepest levels of the state, even the ninja state. Posts in the mission office, at least one of the Hokage's secretaries. They were everywhere.

Were they in the post office?

"No," was Izaya's simple answer. The rats, as Keina's group had come to call them, would not be organized like that. The post office worker would be directly involved with the group, not some third party paid to keep secret.

That left the question: who was this? Izaya said he would investigate, as he always does. He would pay close attention to the postal boy.

Keina accepted that answer, and was proceeding down to the meeting proper, when Izaya grabbed her shoulder.

"I have thought, for quite awhile now, that someone else was running espionage within Hoshi. But there was never proof. only a gut feeling. Some things tidied up too well. Not impossible but... unlikely. You may have just given me they key to discovering who they are."

Keina looked at him, surprised. Izaya rarely admitted shortcomings in his knowledge. He was being serious. Her look went rigid. And concerned. She gave Izaya a curt nod, at which point he let go of her arm. She proceeded to the meeting, slowly removing the makeup on her face.



It was hours later when Keina emerged, choosing to leave through storm drains. She arrived within a small park area inside the village. She took a seat, crossing her legs, and waited.

Morning came, and with it came the chittering of creatures. They were easy kills.

[500]

Mission done, 3000 words
Claiming 60 stats
Mission rewards Nevermind, not doing it as a mission

Approved