Filthy Bathhouse [B RANK MISSION, I/O]

Spoiler:

Honey Bunches sits outside the mission center, writing down a list of things that he himself would want to accomplish if he was going to do a good job of defending this bathhouse.

In front of him, there was a clipboard and pen in his hand. On the clipboard he had a blank piece of lined paper, as well as a map in the center, taking up most of the writing space. In the top left corner, there was a sketch of the word “the”, and he quickly scratched it out with the pen. Looking around for Sukotto, he noticed that he was somewhere around the village, though he couldn’t place quite where. Shaking off his tracking he returned his thoughts to his plans, and he decided he would start.

“KNOWN SO FAR” he scribbles, his handwriting in all capitals. “CAUSE OF DEATH,” he writes, before scratching it out again. “CAUSE OF DEATH,” he writes again before grunting in frustration, looking away from the clipboard. This wasn’t hard, but he found himself losing focus easily in a manner he would not get used to.

With his focus lasered in, he started heading towards the bathouse. He was only about twenty meters away from it, but he took his time, looking around the buildings surrounding him.

It seemed normal, with the exception of

‘YOU BROKE YOUR VOWS
KICKED US DOWN
CUT THE IRIS
BLEED OUR VAULTS
TIME IS WANING
SOON YOUR DEATH WILL BE YOUR FAULT’

written in blood. It was dried past the point of being able to smell it well, but it did not smell much like a human’s blood. As he still did not know of Sukotto’s skill, he didn’t hold back with his hypothesis.

“Animals blood I believe. The message seems to be pretty clear.” He nods, looking at the bathhouse’s symbol, the sign tattered. “It seems like they’re going to uh,” He puts a hand on his chin and starts thinking, looking down at his notes again. Glancing once more to the bathhouse, he decides to head in. Turning to finish his conversation with Sukotto, after that he decided to head inside and start looking at what there was to offer.

Inside the bathhouse, it was surprisingly clean and smelled of some product, but once he left the main lobby and started walking through the actual halls towards bathing areas, the ground got grimy and in some places sticky. Looking closely, it looked as if there was dirt and grime stuck between the bathhouse tiles, and he thanked the heavens he was wearing shoes. Touching his fingers to his face, he covered his nose and continued to check out the baths.

It looks like whoever ran this place was not doing a great job at maintaining it and this was clear by what was called the “economy bathrooms.” Going to the next hall, it read “faucet only economy”, and instead of many filthy tubs, there were many filthy buckets. Honey Bunches said these names to himself a few times, trying to understand what bathrooms had to do with the economy. As he pondered this, he left the area of reeking water and mold and started to search elsewhere.

Further through on the opposite side of the hallway back through the clean entrance, there was what sounded like laughter and music. He noticed on the map that there was supposed to be another hallway, so he decided he would save this area to view with Sukotto. Writing down the repair of the building and the cleanliness on a blank line, he continued away from the voice towards a door labeled STAFF in dark red letters, the paint chipping.

Pressing his ear to the door, he could hear what sounded like someone moving furniture around furiously, with the sound of someone struggling with the weight. Squeezing and pushing on the door handle to give them a hand, the door was locked. Rubbing his chin, the noise behind the door suddenly stopped, and Honey Bunches shrugged and decided to continue on with his detective work.

Heading towards Sukotto, he told him everything he had seen as far as the cleanliness and the room with patrons he had not yet entered. Honey Bunches sighed and longed for the air of the outside world, but he knew that they had to figure out what was going on here and fast before an assassin took them by surprise.

NP: 1
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Sukotto checked his weapons pouch to make sure he had packed in everything he might need. He made sure to put in a fresh white rag he always kept around on the off chance he needed to wipe the blood from his face. With all the gear packed away, he read through the mission scroll again. He was to meet Honey Bunches and guard the owner of a bath house from an assassin. Sounded better then most of his missions to date, so he was excited to get underway. 

Instead of his usual clothes, Sukotto wore little more then a white pair of swim trunks, his weapons pouch strapped on. He also had a white towel that was shoved into a pocket, covering and hiding the weapons pouch. He liked to blend in, which explained his gernally terribly colored clothes, but today a bathingsuit would do a much better job of hiding him. He did pack a small bag with a change of clothes in case he needed them for some reason, and kept his hat on as he did need some protection from the sun, even if the barrier did a good job of keeping it out. His skin was pale as hell, and it would take very little direct sunlight to turn him red.

Sukotto made his way over toward the bathhouse, and found Honey as he was examining something. He walked up next to him, and let his eyes roam across the words written in blood. "Someone is awfully dramatic." He reached out and touched the blood, some of it flaking off at his touch and brought it up close to his nose. His other hand covered it, as if he wanted to keep the scent inclosed and was sniffing it, but he really just didn't want Honey to see as he licked it from his fingers. He then proceeded to rub his hands as if he was wiping the blood away. "You are right, that came from a coyote." He then filled in the end of Honey's last sentance. "Kill him. Though I am very curious about the cut iris and how the bathhouse owner bleed vaults."

He followed Honey through the lobby and then walked over to the receptionist. He handed them his hat, and his bag of extra clothes, "Hold on to these for me please." The receptionist gave him a strange look, and was about to tell him that they had an area for that, when Sukotto walked right past him. He had seen Honey heading off toward the general bathing area, so he headed off toward the luxury bathing.

Little changed as he headed down the hallway. The nice atmosphere of the lobby continued as he walked and he found himself considering stopping by sometime. He had never actually visted a bathhouse, but he liked what he was seeing. His thoughts were interrupted when the receptionist finally yelled at him to stop.

"Where do you think you are going? You have to pay before you enter the baths. It is 3000 ryo to enter which covers an hour, and an additional 2000 for each hour beyond the first." Sukotto stared at the man dumbfounded. Coming into this bathhouse for an hour cost him about six months rent. Hell this mission would barely cover two hours in the place and he was saving the owners life from an assassin.

"Yeah, no." He moved the towel that was sticking out of his pocket ever so slightly to reveal his headband which was peaking out from it. He glanced down at it, and the receptionist's eyes followed. "I am on a job." He stepped up to the man, getting far closer then what people generally considered comfortable. He whispered, "I am not here." Then turned away from the receptionist and continued down the hallway.

The lavish area no longer seemed like such a nice deal, and he couldn't imagine who the hell came here or paid those insande prices to sit in a bath. He had a bath at home, was it as nice, no, was a nicer bath worth six months of rent, fuck no.  

Stepping into one of the overpriced baths, he looked around. Steam filled his vision and he could feel the warmth of the air covering his body. Sweat began to bead across his skin as he checked out the room. Curious, he bent down and touched the pristine water, which was hot, but not too hot. It would take a moment to get accustome too, but once you did it likely felt perfect.

Continuing on he found little else of interest. The hallway simply led to more baths, and each one was self contained and had only the one entrance and exit. The area was very private so it lacked windows or any other way to enter the building. With nothing else to see on this side of the building, he headed back through the lounge and toward the general bathing areas.

As he walked he noticed Honey Bunches, who had just stepped away from a door behind the receptionist area. The two met up and each of them went over what they had seen, and Sukotto was amazed at the stark contrast between the two areas. He had just walked out a lavish area that cost a ridiculous amount of money, and apparetnly that was where this place spent every last dime. Honey had apparently just come from a hell hole.

His thoughts were interrupted when Honey mentioned the last bit about what he had heard while next to the staff door. "Honey, were those sounds maybe, I donno, a struggle. Perhaps what we were hired for?" He walked past his friend and over to the receptionist and pointed at the door. "Key." The receptionist paused for a moment unsure for a moment before handing it to him. Sukotto turned and tossed it to Honey. "After you good sir."

[WC 990]

Clutching the key in his hand, he smirked over at Sukotto and suddenly felt like an ace’s high detective prime on the hunt. He was ready to get to the bottom of this so he could protect the owner from the same fate as the coyote, the poor creature bled to write the message outside. The key entered the lock smoothly, and with a twist and push the door swung open.

It revealed what looked to be a stack of several towels on the ground in a pile, and there were two individuals there seeming to be having what looked like an improvised meeting. He blocked the way at an awkward angle, but he moved a step forward. Sukotto would however still be blocked from his view.


“And then once we get the next bit, boom! Take it back up to the ritz! Am I right?” One of the two people in this back room, a man, laughs. Both of them are sweating profusely, and in the warm meeting room with towels all over the floor Honey Bunches suddenly noticed a strange smell. Narrowing his eyes, he realized that the two people in front of him were still pretending to ignore the new company. Ducking into the room as the door was a bit short, he looked down at the two people discussing their payments. He was now out of the way.

“HEY.” Comes from the core of Honey Bunches’ being, shaking the two people greatly and echoing back through the halls.

Looking at them, he continues, “Hey, it’s me, Honey Bunches. I’m one of the--”

They suddenly start cracking up with laughter, the man starting slowly before doubling over in laughter. Honey Bunches blinks several times, trying to understand the source of their stupor.

“OWKWAY SWEEDIE PIE!” The presumed owner starts laughing loudly and the smell of cheap liquor starts floating towards the two in the doorway. The woman is not laughing, and the man pauses to see Honey Bunches hulking over him, cracking his knuckles.

“S-Sweetiepie?” He whimpers, but Honey Bunches doesn’t strike him or do anything other than standing there to intimidate him with his stature and piercing glare.

“It’s Honey Bunches.”

The man nods slowly, then looks behind him and lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, you have Mr Suk with you. It’s good to see they sent a real shinobi to take care of our assassin problem.” The man nods, turning his attention to Sukotto, and tried to get Honey Bunches out of his line of sight.

As the man spoke to Sukotto, Honey Bunches would hulk over him for the first portion of their discussion, dissatisfied with the briefing. He could sense that the man was hiding something, and he had to think of something to help push him. Smelling that weird smell again, he suddenly ripped the towels up from the ground with no warning, and what was beneath shocked him.

It seemed that this place had cleaning supplies after all, and Honey Bunches kicked it up against the wall, furthering his intimidation, or looking like an angry child.

Hoping he looked cool instead of angry, he turned to the young woman who was trembling and sat down next to her, picking up the scrubbing brush and container of cleaning fluid next to it. Staring at her, she was visibly perturbed, and this did not cause him to stop looking creepy.

Sitting there, he kept his senses sharp for anything around them. It seemed as if it was clear, but you could never be too careful on a mission like this.

NP: 2

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Honey Bunches nods in agreement. “Something about that message doesn’t add up.” He slowly starts creeping closer to the balding man, the mentioned’s shoulders tensing as Honey Bunches evaluates him. Suddenly the young woman bursts from her silence, “He convinced his brother, a Hyuuga, to give up half of his dojutsu on the black market to pay for the place.”

The man quickly moves to silence her, but Honey Bunches blocks his path.

“So after Phillip here squandered it like everything else--”

“I did not squander it!” The balding man huffed and stomped his feet, “It’s not my fault our product expired!”

“It’s your fault you spent it all on cactus rum, jackass!” She shouts, “You never want to offer anything to bathhouse guests, and we needed supplies! Hell, we needed employees. I’m your only maid, and you know damn well what we get up to.” She turns her head to the side, and Phillip drops his hands and starts rubbing them together.

“L-Look, I didn’t extort the guy if that’s what you’re thinking. H-He got, he got real emotional my brother you know. He said he’d rather be blind than see an unhappy customer, but…” He shakes his head,

“My great idea of a premium bathhouse isn’t yet accepted by the stupid folk of this town.” The man sighs and shakes his head, oblivious to his outrageous prices. “They enter, but half the time they bribe the doorman to keep the prices a mere twentieth of what I charge. A twentieth! I can’t fire him since I don’t even pay him now.” The man wrings his hands, them now getting blotched red marks where he continued grabbing. “In fact, I don’t remember hiring him at all.” He shakes his head, “But he’s not my brother. I haven’t seen much of him since I fired him, actually. Something about a blood feud and reparations.” He nods, and Honey Bunches’ jaw drops. “I refused naturally. I’m not from these badlands myself…”

Before he could continue with his self-absorbed rant, Honey Bunches threw him against the wall, punching into the wall next to his head and creating a crater the size of his fist. Shaking, the man slides down to the floor, looking up at him. Picking him up by the scruff of his jacket, he holds him up for Sukotto to see. “Fuck this guy, I say we ice him now and try to claim the bounty from his brother. Maybe even end up doing a little good for the day.” He had no intention of diverging from the path of the mission, but it was obvious that the balding Phillip was a liar by nature. Anything they could do to get more information was worth it, and finishing any questions Honey Bunches set the changed man down, his face flushed looking as if he was about to call for security.

Unfortunately for him, they were the security.

Honey Bunches nods and huffs out of the room, heading directly to the doorman. As if he had heard their conversation earlier about the illegitimate employment, the sought worker was nowhere to be seen, but his scent remained in the air.

Following it slowly, it led into the changing area of the expensive bathhouse rooms, and Honey Bunches sighed. Looking at the small podium with a locked box, he drapes all of his clothes including his undergarments but excluding his shoes, on the podium.

As they are now, the hot baths had left them little more than soaked through with either sweat or condensation, and he felt relieved without his clothes holding him back. His bare ass followed him through the entrance to a central bathing area.

As he entered the rich bath house, he was greeted by cheers, as well as shouts his way, both positive and negative. He nearly got hit in the head with a pair of swim trunks, and he darted his eyes in the direction of which it came. It seemed there was a stand that was covered in clean trunks and towels, the white a stark contrast to the slowly yellowing walls of this room. Equipping the trunks, he looked out and around the room for any sign of the doorman.

Digging through the towels, ending up throwing half of them on the floor, he sighs. The doorman’s scent he picked up earlier must have been some leftover supply from earlier. Digging deeper, he felt along the wood bottom of the cart, until he felt what felt like a latch. As he dumped more towels on the floor, the woman from earlier ran at him, screaming.

As he opened the latch and pulled out a small box from within, the woman was halfway through a tirade of how long it would take her to get those dry once more, as he popped open the small latch and opened it.

Inside, there was an eye inside a small vial, the eye being white with touches of blue. The label on it said “retirement”.

Looking up slowly at the woman, she was not picking up towels, she was but white in the face. Honey Bunches closed the lid with a snap and locked it again, putting it in his temporary inventory for the time being. He didn’t know exactly what an eye would look like when removed up to this point, but he was sure he knew what it looked like now.

The heat getting to him even more at this point, a disillusioned Honey Bunches grabbed his clothes, kicking off his trunks in the main entranceway and letting them land somewhere on the counter or around it.

He called through the building for Sukotto to meet him outside when he was finished looking around, and that he would show him further evidence against Phillip, who he deemed ‘maldy.’

Pulling his pants up inside the exit doorway, he threw his shirtless body to a sandy and grassy pile. Rolling around in it, the sand stuck to his sweat effectively drying it, the grass acting as something to remove the sand. Finding a bush and breaking off a branch, he worked on scratching off the rest of the sand on his body. Letting himself relax, he waited for Sukotto. If he had been followed out he would have been ignorant of his presence up to this point.

“Check this out.” He hands the small wooden box with no special markings to Sukotto, within held the eye of what could be assumed to be his brother. “He must have gotten greedy and taken them both.” Letting Sukotto keep the box, Honey Bunches shakes his head. “This kind of market exists, it seems like. And even that sweaty bastard wanted his piece.” He shakes his head, “It almost makes me feel bad about protecting the guy. But,” He nods, “The law is the law. We could investigate this man all day, but at the end of it murder is even more wrong than betraying your family.”

This line of conversation puts a bitter taste in Honey Bunches’ mouth, and he holds his head in his hands, sitting and dreading what would come next. His excitement about stopping an assassin had been slowly whittled away by their applicant’s sketchy history in the first place, and as he dreaded this, he looked up to Sukotto to pay closer attention to what he was saying.

As their conversation slowed or they were quiet, suddenly Honey Bunches bolts straight up.

“The doorman was missing when I went to check for him. I thought I had followed his scent, but I only found this instead. Do you know what that means?” Honey Bunches pales as realization creeps over his face. “The doorman is the assassin.”

NP: 3
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Tensing his muscles, now that he thought about it, Honey Bunches had not fought in a long time. Preparing himself, he started to close the distance between him and the man, snatching the eye box out of Sukotto’s hand. Suddenly bolting directly in front of him, he dropped the vial in the man’s hand.

The assassin looked down in his hand, and closed his fist, looking back up at Honey Bunches. His face was completely covered, and he slipped the vial into his pocket. Scratching the back of his head, the assassin looked up at the bathhouse, doing nothing and sitting silently.

“I know how you feel…” Honey Bunches follows his gaze to the side of one building. “You can put your life into something, for as long as you live. But at the end of the day…” His hand closes into a tightly gripped fist. “Someone will take it from you.”

The assassin looks back at him, and he nods. Staring at each other silently, Honey Bunches eyes widen as he narrowly dodges a line of kunai, ducking under what could have dug into his chest and shoulders.

“What the fuck? I thought we were going to be friends.” The assassin had already started to prepare his jump to the building, but Honey Bunches was finished with his antics.

By the time the opponent had made it to the top, Honey Bunches was standing there waiting for him with rage in his eyes. Preparing himself for a mighty strike, the enemy kept up his tactic of throwing kunai at Honey Bunches. It looked like there was a small fortune coming his way, and as such he had no other option than to duck, and take the attacks as he could.

Narrowly escaping a cut throat, he was now covered in scratches from the narrowly dodged kunai. He knew he would have to pick up the pace, or he would become lunch meat.

Just as this thought passed through his mind, he felt power in his arm, and charged directly at the enemy ninja with all the strength he had in him. The man attempted a block from where Honey Bunches aimed, his chest, but it only served to break his arms. This cushioned the blow enough to where he would survive, but Honey Bunches felt strange with this new feeling moving down his arm. Picking him up, he jumped off the building and threw him on the ground, slapping his hands together to clear off dirt and for dramatic effect. Putting his clothes back on, he tosses Sukotto’s clone a cigarette and holds up a peace sign, his glasses being adjusted on his face.

“Off to get this sweet cheddar cheese. I’ll catch you next time, or later tonight if you’re in the village. You know how I am, always creeping.” He laughs as he walks away, thinking to himself.

‘Meeting a friend was one thing, but someone who has a pile of missions under their belt? This was getting interesting…’

NP: 4
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TRAINING*:

Claiming mission rewards [6100 ryo, 30 AP] and claiming backpay from weekly genin pay [250]

Approved