Pitch Black [Mission/Private]

The Mission:

The rain came down hard upon the ruins of the industrial village of Amegakure. The rain today was not limited very well to the more commonly known abundance of pitter-patter but instead you could hear it instead as almost thumping upon all the metal roofs and exposed concrete building structures throughout the "village". Despite the fact that the Land of Rain had a near perpetual weather or precipitation, it was somewhat rare to get rainfall this heavy. It didn't bother Choku too much though. He liked the rain, it gave one something to think about, rather than silence when alone. He also found that when focused enough the sound of rain seemed to bring flashes of inspiration to a troubled mind searching for a solution to something. It made for great ambiance while meditating too, a practice Choku often partook in.

But there likely wouldn't be much time to meditate today. Choku had an assignment to complete, one that was very important to the integrity and survival of the clan. Recently there had been a decline in the amount of travelers passing through the Land of Rain, and also reports of suspicious activity within the ruins of Amegakure. These two facts and the disappearances of scouts sent to investigate in the ruins led to the conclusion that there was something more than mere coincidence going on, and that there might be a looming threat to the clan lurking within the very home of the Shoshinku. Naturally, being the most skilled in the clan, Choku took it upon himself to further investigate. He was skeptical as to whether he could be bested or that he would not be able to escape capture should someone attempt to make him disappear as well. As for the rest of the clan, they were skeptical at the thought of sending their beloved leader to take such a dangerous task on alone. They suggested they send out a large force into the ruins to find the source of these disappearances, and if one was snatched up, the rest could follow. The person responsible for this couldn't get rid of such a large number of people at once, right?

But Choku rejected the idea. If anyone happened to pass by the Land of Rain at the time, what would they think seeing such a large number of people traversing the ruins together all at once? Maybe they would fear for their lives and run away. That left the possibility of him warning others of armed men inside those lands. That would then lead to two possibilities. One, that people would begin avoiding the Land of Rain, and the Shoshinku would need to find another way to live and survive. Two, would be that some more intelligent people that heard about the happening would possibly draw the conclusion that there was some organized force inhabiting the ruins of Amegakure, something that would be unheard and unthinkable and would surely reach the ears of the other clans across the world quickly, as they would want to know of the appearance of a new, unknown clan. This would lead to armed forces and organized parties scouting out the region, which was trouble on a level of bringing Choku a migraine just trying to think about it. Thus, Choku undertook this task alone.

He started by picking up the trail of the last scouting party dispatched to investigate the threat. They had been sent to, in a seemingly more safe area than the last party, patrol a tight area around the main building containing the Shoshinku clan compound. The disappearance of a party with such a patrol route so close to the clan's compound was very much so concerning to the people, and was the point at which lots of people began to worry about the danger of their own lands and decided to try and think up a better solution to eliminate whoever was responsible. On the up side, it at least narrowed down Choku's search for the tracks of the last men to be abducted and thus created an easier task of attempting to find out who was responsible. But the latter would not be very hard at all, Choku would soon find.

After scouring an area for a little bit in just a hundred meter radius around the skyscraper under which lied the Shoshinku clan compound, Choku heard something. It was faint at first, and a very dull sound. As it grew louder he identified it as a sound he rarely heard, due to the notable lack of creatures that made the sound. It was the beating of wings, and it was very loud, indicating to Choku that the winged creature was quite close. Choku looked around and then up, but it was too late. A pair of large talons bore down upon him and snatched him up into the sky, the action accompanied by a sharp shriek of a caw. Choku examined his captor, a black, winged creature, appearing to be a very large version of a crow. But there were a couple things that differed from this creature and a crow. The first and most obvious was its size. But besides that, there was a strange physical characteristic about it, which was the specks of red one could see on its body. Some of these red specks appeared to be red feathers placed at random across its body, and some appeared to be stains of blood. Choku suspected this outing would not go well.

"Damn, this is my fifth victim this week! I'm on a roll!" a youthful yet somewhat gravelly voice called from above. Choku activated his Byakugan under the cover of his bandages and attempted to raise his arm to hold his sugegasa in place during flight. He failed of course, his arms being restricted in movement by the presence of talons gripping them tightly, and his sugegasa flew off and down to the ground which now seemed to be far below. Despite his constant visitation to the higher levels of ruined skyscrapers within the Land of Rain, Choku never got used to heights.

"So, I suppose you're the one snatching up people from all around the Land of Rain huh?" Choku posed the question nonchalantly, as though they were making idle conversation. Of course no such privilege would be granted to the man who had first been taking people the clan makes money off of, then his clansmen, and then finally Choku himself. In fact, behind the Shoshinku leader's casual facial expression, he was actually quite angry right now. Well, at least he had figured out where the source of the disappearances was.

After flying for a couple of minutes, the large creature descended towards the base of a skyscraper nearby. The building appeared to have red tape wrapped all around the base, something Choku had never seen before and was sure was an addition by his captor. As far as he could tell, they were now in the west side of the ruins of Amegakure, an area Choku rarely went to, the Shoshinku clan compound being housed in the south. As for his first visit to the west side of Amegakure, he couldn't say it was going too well.

The bird landed, throwing Choku to the ground just before touching down. After landing, it swooped back up into the air before the samurai could gather his bearings. "See ya topside, if you dare!" the man called down to him as he ascended up the side of the building.

Choku stood up and brushed himself off, then feeling a sudden twinge of pain in his knee. He keeled over, grabbing his leg and muttering curses under his breath. A life of combat did not seem to want to allow him to age well it appeared. Though, not long and maybe he wouldn't have to fight anymore. Maybe he could retire as clan leader and travel the world, settle down somewhere in a remote location, and dedicate the rest of his life to relaxing and dying slowly. Maybe he might even find a wife, though, at his age that was doubtful, Choku thought as he headed to the door of the building he had been dropped at and stepped over the red tape.

Despite his long to give up on this job and go home and go to sleep, he still must complete it. Besides, the bird the man had seemed very interesting, further investigation of the creature seemed enticing to Choku. The tall samurai readjusted the position of the case of swords on his back to be comfortable and raised his left hand to run through his hair. Like always, it was somewhat a mess, though that wasn't ever much of concern to him. The samurai, with his right hand, unsheathed the Nuibari strapped to his left side and readied himself. He had found out who had been kidnapping his people quite easily without any real effort, and now he was inviting Choku into his home. It must be the Rain Man's lucky day.

[WC: 1511. Mission complete]