A Journey Beyond [P]

Event Mission Info:

It had been a rather good week, Koutaku thought to himself while he awaited his friend. They’d agreed to meet up outside the Kirigakure mission center, apparently there were things to do, despite it being an off day. Of course, the longer he say on the bench he’d chosen, the stranger the situation became. After all, wasn’t it the middle of night? What was he doing out so late...and why would he be inviting someone to meet him. Furthermore, why would Takashi’s family even let her meet him.

Frowning slightly, Koutaku glanced around and realized that there was something else off about the situation. The buildings were bizarrely warped, even blurry at the edges in places.

Well that was odd. Oh well, maybe that was normal this time of night.

Closing his eyes, Koutaku took a deep breath and stilled his heart and his mind as well. Entering a meditative trance, Koutaku began going over various schemata for techniques he was working on. Soon enough he’d have something with only his name on it--so to speak.

Spoiler:

As Takashi wandered the moonlit streets many thoughts ran through her mind, none of which were ‘What am I doing out this late?’. She’d finally recovered from her training session with Koutaku, and they’d agreed to do some missions despite the fact that they were supposed to be off today--why on earth had she agreed to that?! She’d barely had any time off in the past month, and this was not how she’d envisioned spending it. Still, it could’ve been worse--she was en route to meet him, and at least she’d be spending the time with someone she enjoyed the company of. At least it wasn’t one of her endlessly fawning cousins, or worse, one of the various customers she’d been tasked with delivering clothes to.

She arrived at the bench where Koutaku was sitting outside the facility and offered him a gentle wave as she got within 10 metres of him, certain that he’d be aware at that range.

”... did the buildings always do that?” she asked, looking at the strangely refulgent and indistinct edges around several buildings, their frigid light contrasted by the deep darkness of the midnight sky.

Spoiler:

Opening his eyes, Koutaku regarded Takashi, acknowledging her with a wave of a raised hand. As she asked her question, Koutaku glanced up once more and a look of confused consternation came across his features for a fleeting instant before vanishing entirely. “I...I’m not--” a look of frustration came over his face “...I can’t remember.” Shaking his head, the young Iouchiryo met Takashi’s gaze once more and shrugged, the frustration bleeding away.

“Honestly, I’m really trying not to worry about it. So let’s...just agree that it’s normal and move on.” He got a bit of pain between his eyes every time he thought about it too much, and while that was worrying, he had decided that he would just remain vigilant while going along with things.

“Anyways, uh. I’ve got a host of missions for us to start on. This first one is...” he rifled through his belongings a moment until he remembered that he’d stored it in his pocket dimension. Withdrawing the slip of paper from midair, Koutaku offered it up to her.

Spoiler:

Agree that it was normal for the buildings to be surrounded by an eerie coruscant distortion in the middle of the night? Takashi thought about it for a second, but a pearl of pain threatened to blossom deep within her skull as she considered the unreal nature of things and before she knew it she’d simply nodded along and taken the piece of paper from her colleague’s hands.

“Find a mysterious hooded figure that’s been loitering around the village? Well, that can’t be too hard! They’ve been spotted around residential districts so maybe we should go there?” Takashi half-mumbled, speaking under her breath while her brow furrowed in thought. She pointed off to the distance in the direction of a cluster of residential districts, and the buildings seemed almost to shift and part ways to create a path for them to follow. But that couldn’t have happened, right..? Takashi blinked a few times before tugging at her partner’s sleeve and setting off in that direction.

Spoiler:

Following closely behind his friend, and then coming up to walk beside her, Koutaku scanned their environment and paid close attention to every sound he could pick up. Something was off, he couldn’t put his finger on it, but he wasn’t about to let someone sneak up on them. Further, despite it being late, it was a bit odd that they didn’t see anyone out on the streets. Plus, not a single glimmer of light from windows, with the only illumination coming from dim street lamps and the fullness of the unshrouded moon. That was rather odd too.

Frowning slightly, Koutaku decided to partially distract himself while they walked. “So, I’ve been working on some techniques lately, but they’ve been giving me no end of trouble for some reason,” he said, not glancing at Takashi, but keeping his eyes peeled instead. As they carried on towards the more residential areas of the village, Koutaku continued, “One of them...it might be due to the complexity, but the other one is...it’s like there’s something I’m missing.”

Withdrawing a kunai from one of several weapon pouches, Koutaku began channeling his chakra through it.

Spoiler:

Takashi hadn’t really listened to what Koutaku had been saying, instead raising her left hand to cut him off while her right pointed off to a house in the distance that, unlike every other house around, actually had light flickering within. The light was less bright than normal, and looked to be perhaps something akin to candlelight? Something about it caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, and a momentary shiver ran through her as she looked at it from afar.

“... there.”

Takashi set off towards it immediately at her now-significantly improved speed (though she was still far slower than her friend), some unusual steely determination in her eyes. It was a side of Takashi that Koutaku was familiar with but that he rarely saw anymore--after the events that had brought her to Kirigakure she’d taken some time to adjust to the new lifestyle and had had trouble with her level of intensity. She’d mellowed out a lot since then, but something about the eerie night had brought out a single-minded focus in her that was almost unsettling.

Spoiler:

His brow creasing further at the interruption, Koutaku quickly forgave her as he looked into the distance and saw something that normally wouldn’t be out of place.

A house with its lights on.

Narrowing his eyes, Koutaku took off after Takashi, catching up swiftly and then matching her pace. Moving rapidly to cross the ground between their formation location and their target, Koutaku easily circumnavigated the space, using expertly timed vaults over obstacles, swerving motions around those that would be uncomfortable to jump over, and the occasional wall run--mostly for fun, but also to throw off any would-be pursuers.

With alarm bells ringing in his head, Koutaku continued forth. Yet, the street seemed to extend impossibly far forwards, and the building did not appear to be getting closer nearly as fast as it ought to be. Nonetheless, he pressed on. After perhaps thirty seconds of running at a dead sprint, Koutaku began to call out to Takashi.

“Is it just me, or are we not getting closer nearly fast enough?”

Spoiler:

Takashi had opted to simply run along the streets, allowing herself to be the bait for anything that might have wanted to attack them or perhaps stop them from reaching the house--the hooded figure, if they caught a glimpse of them, would hopefully go for her and Koutaku could use his superior speed and positioning to take them out so they could be questioned. As she ran, however, she too noticed that she seemed not to be travelling any distance whatsoever. She ground herself to an immediate halt to scrutinise what precisely was happening more deeply, but that strange headache began to develop again as soon as she did.

“... I don’t think we are getting closer at all? What is this..?”

She turned to look at her friend in disbelief, only to find that he wasn’t there. In fact, she wasn’t there either--as soon as she’d stopped her surroundings seem to swim in some crepuscular haze, and through it all she swore she could see an upside-down triangle emblazoned upon the peculiarly bright moon for a brief instant before she found herself inside the house from earlier. Candles lined the walls and the smell of stale iron permeated the air--a clear indication that blood had been spilled somewhere. She looked around to get her bearings, only to find the walls of the house fuzzy and indistinct like the outlines of the buildings earlier.

“... Koutaku? I think something bad has happened here…” she called out, but her friend was no longer in her periphery.

Spoiler:

When no reply came from Takashi, Koutaku’s gaze shot to his right and back a bit where she ought to be, only to find that she had vanished entirely. Instantly, Koutaku went from simply on edge, to fully engaged. He sunk deep into his combat-trance, his eyes going hard and steely, even as his body became equal parts relaxed and tense. He slid to a stop, wheeling around once to see if he could catch a glimpse of her--or indeed of anyone or anything at all out of place--he found nothing.

There was only the stillness of the night attempting to lull him into a calming stupor. The shining of the bright moon overhead, and the light howl of wind through buildings, trees, and the cliffs of the island. Pulling in a slow, measured breath, Koutaku closed his eyes and considered what he could do. The first thought that came to mind would be to search her out, but tracking would be difficult at night like this--especially considering he didn’t yet have mark tracking, not to mention his general lack of sensory techniques. The second thought he had...was to use shadow clones, and this one he acted on immediately.

At least, he would have, except the moment he opened his eyes, he was right behind Takashi, causing him to take several steps back--eyes wide--a gasp escaping his throat. “I--what?”

He looked around and his vision reeled as he noticed that they were inside now. It was like he’d been transported by some kind of undetectable space-time technique. Yet, he hadn’t seen anyone...or sensed any chakra. Then a terrifying possibility itched at the corners of his mind.

Was this a genjutsu?

A cold sweat broke out on his back, and he felt a shiver travel up his spine. He acted immediately, performing the necessary actions for genjutsu release.

Nothing happened. His breathing slowed. It simply couldn’t be a genjutsu then. Good...that was good.

Swallowing hard, his face somewhat ashen, Koutaku stepped around Takashi only for his eyes to widen again. Before her--splayed on the ground in a pool of its own blood--was a dead body.

“Oh...” he said dully, suddenly realizing that he’d never actually seen a dead body before now. How strange that was given his profession.

“I...um, think you’re right on that count Takashi.”

Exhaling slowly, Koutaku worked to calm himself, forcing a calm haze to settle over his mind, just like he’d been taught. In swift order the fear had been neatly put in a box in the back of his head for him to deal with...later.

Reaching out, Koutaku prodded at the man’s clothes, shifting them slightly. Without much searching he found something on their person.

It was a piece of paper, a note almost certainly addressed to the man who lay dead before them. It was apparently a directive to head to a particular hotel in the area.

Frowning, Koutaku rose to his feet, speaking as he did so. “We should head to the hotel he was supposed to be going to. Perhaps we can figure out who did this in the process...and why it would be worth killing this man to stop him from arriving there.” He fixed her with his gaze for a long moment, and then walked past her having already seemingly forgotten that they’d effectively been teleported into the building.

Far more was afoot than they could possibly realize.

Spoiler:

While Koutaku’s logical mind had separated the real from the surreal and attempted to reconcile the anomalous state of affairs, Takashi’s mind had refused to settle so easily--lapses of confusion and shock gave way to periods of placidity and then back again, her nature unsteadily vacillating between them. It seemed like whatever nightmarish power had created this dream that had ensnared their minds was finding either some strange resistance or some strange affinity within Takashi’s mind. As she looked down at the dead body she was reminded of the many times she’d seen them growing up in Amegakure, and when their family had first traveled to Kirigakure--but the experience now was oddly surreal, somehow more lucid and vivid than it had ever been before. She let out a brief gasp in surprise, but then quickly--seemingly like Koutaku--she had shelved that emotion and was in that same state of alertful focus.

“I think they were… sacrificed? Look at him, his heart’s been cut ou--” she started, but a sudden look of horror overcame her and she trembled for a second as she tried to stifle a little scream. Then, as quickly as that panic had come over her, it was gone and she had resumed speaking.

“... cut out. We need to check that hotel out, yeah, we’ve gotta make sure that nobody else in the village is in danger! And yeah, why on earth would someone be sacrificed like this? We have to make sure we get to the bottom of this, right? We’re obliged as Genin!” Takashi commented, beginning walking as soon as Koutaku started and continuing the conversation while they moved. As they turned around the night sky seemed to peel away, gentle streaks of evening light being chasing away some of the insidious blackness--and the skyline had completely changed. It was like they had walked into a building in one village and out of a building in another, a painted wooden sign in the distance signalling their destination like an irresistible beacon.

Spoiler: