The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
They say that made an unsuccessful suicide attempt, one of the things the person would recount was the precise moment that would regret their decision. And, as Kiku stood resigned in the darkness, the same could be said for her. As the Genin’s final thoughts kept flashing to her loved ones, her friends, the only thing Kiku wanted to do was see them one last time. Her face contorted despite not being able to cry, cursing herself for her own weakness. Kiku wanted-no, needed to see her team again.
Kiku let out a yell and rank to the edge of the chains, rearing her fist back to unleash a mighty blow with all of her strength! White it amounted to nothing that didn’t stop her from trying again. And again. And again. Impact after impact against the wall of chains that illuminated her prison. Gold electricity formed around the girl’s body while she punched the chains, sifting the ground around her into gold dust. The dust would rise and form behind the Genin into two massive fists. The fists would mirror the blows Kiku made, firing off gold and orange sparks from the collision of the jutsus.
With one last yell, Kiku went to strike once again, but found that the barrier suddenly shattered before she touched it. Light from the cavern flooded into the prison as the chains disintegrated and there hovered Takao. Bug-like, which was… very unexpected of him. With the way he growled and barked, Kiku thought of him like a stray dog. Nonetheless, the girl took his hand as the gold dust fell behind her.
Kiku was uncharacteristically quiet as Takao offered up his game plan. She looked to the bandit she’d turned to pulp and felt sick. It had been a merciless beatdown and it made her feel not like herself. That maybe she really was losing her humanity? Kiku shelved the thought and looked to Akito.
She wanted to kill him, too, and even began to gather gold dust to smother him. But before the girl could envelop him she stopped. “No, our job was to bring him back, or did you forget?” Kiku said in her usual bossy tone, turning away from Akito and stuck her nose up in the air. She was doing her best to bring her typical bravado back. “‘Sides, maybe we’ll let the guys at the Konoha prison have some turns with him.”
With the tailed beast form shedding off of him, Takao felt lethargic. He really wanted to return to the Leaf and have a big meal or a long nap. He couldn't control the urge to roll his eyes at Kiku's response, though a part of him was glad she wasn't looking at him because he smiled, too. "Could bring him back as a corpse," he grumbled anyways. He took a moment to search his pockets for a carton of Gold Scarab cigarettes, pulling out one from the pack. "Oh, that's sick, Kiku," he said as he scrunched up his nose to her suggestion that the prisoners work him out. "I'm so telling Nimure you said that." He lit one end of the cigarette and took a long drag.
He exhaled the first cloud of smoke and bent over to pick up Akito when the body exploded in lava, petrifying Takao while his hands were on the ground and he was bent over. He was totally stuck with cooled lava all over his body. He instinctively pulled away but he wasn't budging. He couldn't make hand seals like this or move his hands or arms for jutsu.
Akito revealed himself across the clearing, standing on top of where the lava chasm had been before it cooled into an igneous platform. He laughed at them both, hands moving somatically as the earth began heating [ Lava Release: Ground Warming [ Yōton: Daichi Atatameru ] | Rank B ]. The heated radius followed Akito as he walked towards Takao, making the jinchuuriki nervous about the impending burns.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? Typical. All of you jinchuuriki fire up early and waste your abilities. Predictable. Now it's easy pickings," he mused, hardly paying Kiku any attention. "Sit still, dollface, and let the adults handle this. I'll be collecting you after I turn this one over here to ash."
pyrategross
Akito used
(previous) ▰ Lava Release: Cement Clone Technique [ Yōton: Cement Bunshin no Jutsu ] | Rank A-S+ The user forms the required hand signs to form the lava surrounding them into a clone of themselves or desired target. These clones share the exact stats of the user and are capable of using any lava techniques the user knows by expending the chakra used to create them. Once this chakra is used or the clone destroyed, the clone explodes, hardening instantly and petrifying anyone within the thirty foot explosion.
▰ Lava Release: Ground Warming [ Yōton: Daichi Atatameru ] | Rank B The user floods the earth with their chakra, super heating the ground just below the melting point of lava at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit within forty feet of the user that moves with them. Within this radius, living substances receive tier two burns over their entire body while body parts with direct contact to the earth suffer tier three burns. Staying within this radius causes opponents to lose a single activation so long as they are in range. This technique requires a D rank amount of chakra per post as an upkeep cost.
ghostfinch
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 11:21 pm
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
“Yeah yeah, whatever he started it!” Kiku pouted. She didn’t turn to look at Takao, but the general vibe of the situation at least seemed to be back to normal. But it was when the other shinobi mentioned ratting her out to Nimure did she spin around. “You wouldn’t-” Kiku started, jabbing a finger at Takao, before stopping short just as Akito exploded all over the Jinchuriki. “Dare? Oh no…”
Kiku grit her teeth as Akito, the real Akito, came into view some distance away. What did they do? Did they run? That option was a no go as Takao managed to get himself stuck. Awesome. Kiku wasn’t sure if she could fight on her own; she’d been slinging around a lot of chakra lately. But it’s not like the girl was going to sit around and wait to be rescued, either. Kiku clenched her fists as nearly every mission or event flashed into her mind. She was always being taken care of, having her life saved or having danger being taken care of for her. But she was strong too! And she was going to prove it!
Kiku swiped her arms forward and her Castle puppet flew in between Akito and Takao. The bricks on its body released a wave of chakra to block the path between the bandit and the trapped shinobi.
“Well when you find a couple of adults, let me know!” Kiku clapped her palms together as her body seemed to shift, red markings forming on her forehead and under her eyes. [Senju Sage Mode] ‘’Cause I just see a couple of losers playing shinobi!” The ground around Kiku’s feet erupted into shrapnel as two wooden hands shot from the depths, reaching out to Akito at blinding speeds. [Wood Style: Laughing Buddha Technique S>S+ Overwhelming Spiritual] Kiku ran forward just a beat after her wooden hands, drawing another tonfa into her hand. She thrust the weapon out as the wooden hands pulled Akito towards her for maximum impact, the blow strong enough to whip up gusts of hot wind around the battlefield. [Parting Waves S+ Overwhelming Complex] The wooden hands shattered as they let go of Akito, the blow being enough to send him flying back the direction he came from. Kiku didn’t let up, following after him as she focused the earth around her into two massive fists of gold dust that hovered around her. [Black Iron Fist A Rank Overwhelming Complex] The Genin jumped up, seemingly floating above Akito, before she brought her tonfa crashing down into him! To follow up the blow, the fists of gold dust came crashing down just as Kiku jumped away, pummeling the bandit further into the ground! [Breaking Point Strike S+ Overwhelming Complex]
▰ Wood Style: Laughing Buddha Technique [ Mokuton: Hotei no Jutsu ] | Rank S>S+ Overwhelming After performing the required hand signs, the user creates two gigantic hands that emerge from the earth, each the size of a tailed beast but can be made as small as standard hands if desired. Each hand requires an S Rank amount of reserves to combat. These hands then grasp their target, restraining them in place as they are reduced by two hundred chakra ( Demon, Sage, Corrupted, Standard ) and suffer one rank of tenketsu rot per post, nullifying all agility and endurance when interacting with them while reducing techniques against it during collisions by two ranks. This requires a B ranked upkeep per post from the user. Finally, an additional hand per body rank of the user may be created.
Third Action:
▰ Parting Waves | Rank S+ Overwhelming | Complex The user thrusts both of their tonfa directly forward, striking at a target directly before them. Then, after this strike, the user channels chakra into their weapon and swings outward with each tonfa, sending concussive blasts of air five feet to either side per rank of the technique, deflecting incoming attacks and sending opponents flying.
Fourth Action (due to Sage Mode) :
▰ Black Iron Fist [ Kurogane no Ken ] | Rank A>S+ Overwhelming Complex | The Jiton user sculpts two massive fists of iron sand that are manipulated with electromagnetic fields. If spiritual, the fists can be imbued with lightning to apply tiered full-body paralysis to the target on contact depending on the technique's rank. The fists will also break through equal rank spiritual attacks in this form. With complex, the fists can mirror the taijutsu techniques of the user while carrying half of their stat capabilities. One taijutsu technique can be mirrored per post. The mirrored technique costs no additional stamina or chakra or combat action.
Fifth Action (Due to Speed Cap) :
▰ Breaking Point Strike | Rank S+ Overwhelming | Complex A single, all-or-nothing downward strike using both of the sticks, aiming at a target's shoulders. This attack treats armor as one rank lower, removing all endurance increases from the target for three posts if undefended.
kiiwispoet
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2021 4:23 pm
Takao could do nothing but watch - but thankfully, the show was good. Kiku's onslaught was unforgiveable and she bodied Akito quickly, moving at speeds he didn't often witness other ninja getting to. He didn't care much for the comment about him being a loser but he decided to keep quiet about it because he was still in need of her help to get out of his predicament. Once Akito was essentially a pulp, unable to defend himself sufficiently and taking the tonfa blow straight-on, everything was quiet. Akito lied in the crater un-moving, blood coming from his nose and mouth.
Takao from the dozen yards away that he remained, decided now was a good time to draw attention back to him being stuck. "Hey! Good job with the pummeling or whatever but can you come get me out of this?" For emphasis, he tried to pull himself away from the ground but the lava-petrified hands were stuck. "My nose is itchy and I bit my lip when the lava exploded - and I can't deal with either of those without my hands," he whined. He wasn't sure if Akito was alive or not, either, and he couldn't diagnose from back here.
pyrategross
Akito used: get ******** no jutsu
ghostfinch
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:21 pm
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku stood over Akito as his blood dripped from her tonfa. She let out a breath and relaxed her mind, dispersing the Nature Chakra as the markings on her face faded. “And stay down!” Kiku gave the man a kick to his side: sharp, but nowhere near as strong as the blows he’d just received. She did stay and look at him for a few seconds. The bandit had popped his head up more than enough times to be considered a nuisance by now. Also Kiku couldn’t help but float some thoughts around about what he’d said earlier. He the trap for them. He said he’d gotten her and Takao paired on purpose. And he’d known who her family was, a fact that made the girl feel like throwing up. She was beginning to come to a grim conclusion, just as Takao probably had.
Kiku wouldn’t have much time to mull her thoughts over before the devil she knew stole her attention. “Oh if only my comrade Takao hadn’t died in combat!” Kiku monologued without looking at the Jinchuriki. She flourished her hand dramatically for emphasis. “I can still hear his voice, like he’s with me in spirit! Alas, my poor maiden heart, now I’ll never be able to tell him how I feel!” The Genin turned and smirked at the Arashi ninja over her shoulder before walking over to him.
“I’m not sure I wanna do that; you make a good statue.” Kiku hummed thoughtfully, examining the stone carefully. Her teasing lacked her former malice and she broke out into a bright grin as she rose back to her full height. “You’ve got a funny way of asking for help~” Kiku clapped her palms together to generate a field of magnetism and golden sparks. Then she placed her hand on the stone and it instantly crumbled away to gold dust. The dust swirled into Kiku’s body, not unlike how Nimure recalled his insects, as she turned to Akito with her hands on her hips. “So now what?” The girl asked, her tone serious now. “We can’t just take him in now, you know. You heard what he was saying, right?” The princess shifted her eyes to look up at Takao. “He’s got friends inside the systems of both villages.”And they know who we are…“So what’s the plan?” Kiku sighed. She needed a drink or three.
Takao rolled his eyes at Kiku's pretending, though he felt a slight pull on his heart strings as he recalled Shion's frequent teasing of him. His guilt at not seeing his girlfriend much recently was put on pause as he held carefully still, hoping none of Kiku's magnetic chakra would exacerbate his lava-glued state. However, he was soon freed at last and he quickly got to his feet and rubbed at his wrists. He was glad things were over, except Kiku brought up a really good point.
He stretched his arms overhead to buy him a moment to think. "Well. Couldn't we go straight to the kages about this? I mean, what's the alternative? You wanted him alive, and now that we've got him - I mean, I think alive, Ishouldreallygocheckhimout - it's not like we can just take him to your house and interrogate him ourselves." He patted his pockets and retrieved a cigarette, though he eyed Kiku and weighed the chances of her abusing him for smoking. He wasn't looking for any more combat after the post-cloak exhaustion and the recent statue exercise. "How many people in the Leaf do you think he could have corrupted? Like, is there anyone in the village you would trust with your life?" They were far closer to the Leaf and the Storm, so it would make more sense that they reach out to any authorities there, if at all. He wasn't sure what choices they had to deal with Akito that weren't treason. "What if he lied about having people on the inside?"
pyrategross
ghostfinch
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Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 11:24 pm
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
“I’m… not sure…” Kiku pondered Takao’s questions carefully. She noted he was about to smoke, but stopped after a glance at her. As if in response Kiku summoned a flask with a cloud of smoke and took a swig from it. For what little good it did her anymore, it was still the familiarity of the habit. With all the vices on the table, the puppeteer's eyes unfocused as she stared at the ground. “How far up do I think it goes? Well, let’s look at what we know, and you tell me if you think he was lying.” As she spoke, Kiku ticked off her fingers with each item on the list. “Whoever his contacts were, they were high enough to organize us on the squad. Not give him intel about what the squad was, but to orchestrate it how he wanted. That alone should tell us just how far up this goes, in either village. On top of that, we know he wasn’t lying strictly based on the trap that Akito and his goons set for us. They knew we were coming, and when, and where. And also…”
Kiku’s expression shifted to one of concern as she thought back to what Akito said to her. How he looked at her. “He knew parts about me that no-one else knows besides Momotaro. Not the Academy, not the Hokage. Not even Nimure. Parts of my life that I’ve spent a lot of time and effort keeping a secret.” The girl’s purple eyes shifted to Takao, to gauge his reaction. She knew what anyone’s logical conclusion might be after hearing that. “And I refuse to believe that my boyfriend is a traitor. In fact… grab him!” Kiku pointed to Akito and took off running. “I know somewhere we can go!”
Takao listened to Kiku's list and his expression grew grim. He had heard only pieces of what she had said to Akito so he wasn't entirely in the know about these secrets of hers, but he figured they must be pretty dire given her bludgeoning of Akito (twice) with the tonfa. "Well, how well do you really know Mom-" but he was interrupted by Kiku's sudden burst of inspiration. He grabbed Akito as she said and began to follow her, though she was much faster than he was prepared for. "S-slow down! What are we doing!? Aren't you gonna fill your partner in?" He groaned and readjusted Akito to be slung over his shoulder.
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Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 1:22 pm
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku ran ahead without saying anything, lost in her thoughts. The girl ran deeper and deeper into the woods and only stopped when she reached a point that she thought was secluded enough. By the time Takao caught up, the blonde had already finished a string of seals and slapped her hands to the ground. The ground in front of the shinobi would quake and crack as wood began to rise from the earth. Within a matter of seconds a fully formed house made of wood now stood before Kiku and Takao. The girl would motion for the jinchuriki to follow her inside.
“Get him all situated.” Kiku went about setting up a chair with some shackles. Once done the princess sat on a table with her legs crossed, holding her ankles with her hand. “We, uh, we should be safe from someone spying on us in here.” Kiku looked around the construct she’d built. “So we can interrogate him without an issue. Hopefully.” Kiku turned a skeptical side glance to Takao. "You do know how to do that, right?"
▰ Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique [ Mokuton: Shichūka no Jutsu ] | Rank B The user manipulates the roots beneath the ground the user molds them as they raise from the earth at an accelerated growth rate, molding to the user's imaginitive design within a forty foot expanse. This house and it's residents is immune to sensory and dojutsu abilities equal to the user's body rank.
Second Action:
Third Action:
kiiwispoet
Posted: Tue May 11, 2021 10:22 am
Takao followed Kiku and helped set up Akito to her vision. His eyes widened at her nonchalant question, though. "Uh, NO. What makes you think I know how to interrogate? I'm not a freakin' detective. Oh no, are we technically kidnappers now? We're not even following the mission right now. Oh man. I really, heh, I really can't take a bad mark on my record, Kiku. Um, maybe we should... I don't know. We can't take him in but I don't think we can leave him here." He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and sucked in a breath through it as he paced in a circle. How did he let himself trust Kiku? This was going terribly.
"I don't know how to interrogate and like, you're totally gonna commit a war crime if you do it. Oh, this is terrible. This is very terrible." He wasn't sure how understanding the folks in the Storm would be about this news. Miyuki had talked very slowly when she was telling him how important this intervillage mission was for turning a diplomatic new leaf. She had said it to him like he was kind of an idiot and now he was going to prove her right when he returned empty-handed.
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2021 7:26 am
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku watched Takao pace around with a wide eyed curious expression on her face. Her thumb and index fingers were still locked around her ankles, keeping her legs crossed, while her other hand loosely held her head up. “I feel like I should take offense to that statement,” she said with a mild sigh. “But I guess I can see where you’re coming from.” With an exhale she pushed herself off of the table. The girl strode over to Takao and lightly pressed a hand to his chest to get him to stop moving. The metallic and wooden composition of her fingers kept her from feeling the fabric of the young man’s shirt, or the sturdiness of his chest. So her gaze lingered for a moment on her touch until Kiku knew she wasn’t pressing too painfully hard. “Chill.” She said once her gaze shifted to Takao’s. “Think about it logically for a second. We take him in without any information. We don’t know how high up his influence goes, which puts both of our villages in danger. Konoha just barely, and I mean barely recovered from the last attack.” As she spoke, Kiku refrained from mentioning that her and her friends had barely recovered too. But the implication was there. “Hell, you guys even got a new Kage out of your attack, yeah? Dunno about you, but that hardly sounds stable. Arashi’s probably worse off than we are. Think about your home, your girlfriend.” Kiku paused and gave Takao an awkward side-eye. “You do have a girlfriend, right? Or boyfriend?”
Takao gulped when she put her hand on him, though he let out a measured breath when it seemed she wasn't going to try and hurt him. Her gaze held him in place as she spoke, and it made him a little slow to process her actual words. But she had a point. He wasn't sure how to take her explicitly telling him that Konoha had barely recovered - that kind of vulnerability was taboo to share with shinobi of other villages, and his stomach flipped at her non-chalance in sharing it. It was either a complete disregard for Konoha, which didn't track because of her concerns about putting the village in danger, or a strong trust in him.
It was hard to swallow the lump in his throat.
"Uh, I guess we're still adjusting to the new leadership and stuff. It's weird because things have totally changed but it also feels like we're in the same place as before..." He tried not to think about the weirdness at home. He felt out of place there, especially after his failure against the Jashinist attacker. "Hey, you've met my girlfriend Shion! She was with me at the wedding and- oh, I guess she never showed because of work. Well, you met her when I was last in... no, she didn't come with me in Konoha either. Hold on," he said and he brought a hand to face as he thought about it. "I was sure you met her..."
pyrategross
Takao "My girlfriend is totally real and not Canadian" Yamamoto
ghostfinch
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Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 12:48 am
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku’s side eye became more and more apparent as Takao tried and failed to jog her memory of his totally real girlfriend. She looked away from the young man to try and avoid his cringeworthy performance. It physically pained the blonde girl to watch and she wondered if fate would ever really put him out of his misery. “You’re such a turbo virgin,” Kiku sighed and shook her head. She walked over to Akito and looked over the unconscious man. “But you understand what I mean, yeah?” She bent down and pressed her fingers to his neck to check for vital signs. It wasn’t for a few seconds after that Kiku remembered she couldn’t feel a pulse regardless. She clicked her tongue at her own forgetfulness and opted to see if the man was breathing.
If it was up to her, Akito would have been pummeled to death earlier. Kiku recalled the threats he’d made to her, and the fate she would have had should they have lost. The girl reflexively took a step back, wrapping her arms around herself protectively on instinct. It was enough to make her sick. “Takao… Akito knew who my father was, which is something I try very hard to hide. My family doesn’t know that I’m a shinobi, they don’t know that I’m Kiku Fujioka. They still think I’m their son for heaven’s sake.” Kiku gripped the sleeve of her jacket as she balled her hand into a fist.
“And like they don’t know about who I really am, no-one that I talk to knows about them. Besides Momotaro, and you, now. I’ve tried to keep those two lives separated for as long as I could. But if they’ve been watching me for so long, and so closely then that means that everyone I know is in danger. Momotaro, Moriyama, Nimure… everyone. So I can’t put the people I love into that kind of risk, not again.”
Takao was pinned in place by Kiku's sudden vulnerability. His instincts said to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything would be okay. He wanted to protect her like an older brother. But his experiences with her kept him still. She had tricked him before, and he genuinely couldn't put the emotional manipulation past her, even if he desperately wanted her to be someone he could get along with. It'd reduce the potential friction between him and Nimure, and he... well, he'd never say no to having more friends, though the thought of expressing that to Kiku who had otherwise always capitalized on his emotions made him sick.
He wasn't sure how to interpret her words. There was no way for him to verify her statements, and it left him at an impasse. Was he going to assume the worst because of her pattern of behavior and assume she was about to pull the rug out from under him, or was he going to take her word at face value and do his best to protect her from the potential fallout of Akito's words spreading and the allegedly infiltrated KPD using this to blackmail her?
Well. He'd always been a bleeding heart and an idiot. It'd be stupid to rebrand himself now.
"Kiku... I'll do everything I can to keep that from happening. I promise." He closed his eyes and held his chin, deep in thought. He reached inwards to Chomei to ask for advice. The bug chittered thoughtfully for a moment before it offered a resolution. 'Takao could use eye mind reading technique to detect lies from Akito.' Ah. He had forgotten he ever learned such an invasive technique. He'd learned it on the Prophet, and it... well, he'd suppressed a lot of things that happened there. He was glad Chomei could suss through those memories for him.
With that, he was suddenly animate, and it'd certainly look like a lightbulb went off over his head. "I've got this." He bent over Akito, ready to slap the hell out of the man so he'd wake up, but he remembered Kiku and turned to her. "Maybe you should take a walk. I don't want... I don't want him to try and manipulate you while I'm getting answers out of him."I don't want you to worry about anything he tells me about you.
If she'd walk away, he'd get to work slapping him into consciousness and then holding his face still so it was difficult to evade the eye mind reading technique. And Takao would begin his questioning until he received some names of KPD and APD officers who were on the gang payroll. It... didn't look good. Both villages would need to clean house, and it wasn't like Akito was the absolute head of information, either; there was a lot of opportunity for other members to blackmail or pay off others.
pyrategross
ghostfinch
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:52 am
The Guilded Queen Rank:Genin 磁気 | Classes:Puppeteer | Bloodline 力 | Body Rank:B 勇 | Elements:Water,Earth,Lightning,Magnetism,Wood
Kiku was going to protest. Every inch of her expression told Takao she was about to. She’d even reached out to grab his sleeve, clenching the fabric with her fingers. There was a second as she tried to think of what to say, a reason for her to stay with him. But Kiku knew he was right when it came down to it. The puppeteer wordlessly let her hand fall from the Jinchuriki’s arm and she complied. Kiku turned to walk out, opening the door to let the light from outside flood into the wooden house. The girl stopped and turned her head over her shoulder and rested her hand on the door frame. “Thanks.” She said over her shoulder, quietly, just loud enough for Takao to hear.
With that Kiku walked outside. She leaned her back against the wall of the house before she slid down to sit on the ground. Once again she pulled her flash out and took a pull from it, stopping to look up at the sky. And curl her knees up to her chest. She was more shaken by this mission than she’d been by any of the others, and it showed. The girl doubted she’d be much use to the interrogation as she was now. So she did the hardest thing she’d had to do in a long time.
She waited, while she let someone else take care of things.
