"Are the preparations complete? Have all the nessecary seals been put on the walls?" Two nods answered the questions, though I never saw them as I looked over a green scroll. My face contorted with anger upon seeing something wrong with the scroll and tossed it over my shoulder "Have that scroll corrected. Its seal is wrong! This must all be done perfectly. If any mistakes occur we could kill the person we're trying to transport."
Some shinobi dissapeared and soft foot steps and the occasional rapping sound of a cane approached. Turning my head I peered at the old man "That seal is wrong right? I have a hard time with these seals you've been working on. They're all... incredible... They're so complex, and I'm not exactly a shinobi. I've only been taught enough to detect traps and the such but..." He couldn't describe how inadequate he felt as the old man opened up the scroll. He was the Lord of a large city because he knew how to lead people and make choices that could generate profit. He had hired some... questionable figures to help him learn, and he did learn alot. But these really were confusing.
The old man smiled at him. His toothy grin became more pronounced as he let his teeth show "No no my lord. The seal is quite fine."
A sigh escaped my mouth before I could stop it, he continued "It's quite fine my lord, just being on the safe side. Everyone else has gone to recheck the seals and the scrolls. One of them was drawn wrong, quite wrong as a matter of fact. It would have killed Rakol most likely."
He smiled even broader, that was quite a feet. His wrinkled skin stretched "I must thank you my lord. None of the lords from other cities with in miles would even think twice about letting a missing-nin conduct such an experiment, even with all the money we're willing to pay. But you let us, it is quite nice to be able to have so much to work with. We simply didn't have the supplies by ourselves. I'm glad I filled you in on what to do. My voice isn't what it was."
His attitude filled me with confidence for one reason or another. It was good to see that I had caught something wrong, even if it wasn't the scroll I said was. A tap startled me and I spun around, the boy I had sent two hours ago was finally back. His job should have taken thirty seconds, go out, get a piece of hair from Rakol and be back.
The final process of this technique was to have a piece of hair from the person who we were supposed to transport. This was vital. It would allow us to lock onto the exact chakra signal needed and bring the... who ever you were trying to transport... to you immediatly. That was all in theory.
This boy, he called him self Chim, was unreliable. He would be gone for hours till you you went out to find the boy your self. Then he walked in and shoved two pieces of hair into my face. Like I couldn't see them before! The boy was downright infuriating. The only reason I tolerate him is because he's a favorite to the man who was paying for the luxury of using my city as a cover.
"Nice job Chim." What a rediculous name. Grabbing the two hairs I carefully stepped over the multiple circles with complex seals and came back the same way, careful not to smudge any of the inks. Chim simply stood looking there with his stupid goofy grin and I grimaced at him. He was so ugly, I turned away from him and made it obvious he could leave. He did and without a doubt never took that stupid smile off his face.
Immediatly spinning around I found the door and left also, hopefully Chim would be no where to be found. Four shinobi came in through the door on the east side of the building. The red swung wide admitting them, when the last one came in the shinobi closed it and slapped a piece of paper on it, a seal. The door glowed and more than likely wouldn't open till the ritual was done. They sat on the four sides of the circle holding two scrolls each and began.
I watched through the one way glass and waited next to the old man. Half way through the
apparently long process I looked at the old man. What was wrong with him? Why was he gripping
his shoulder? Why was he smiling... sadistically?
---
Confusion
It Wrapped Ranmas mind with a thick veil of shadow.
"Ranma! Ranma! Whats happening!?" "Ranma! What's going on?" "What are you doing?"
"You can stop messing around Ranma!" Must be Akane, he never looked up to confirm it.
Scared voices from all around the school yard asked him questions. He just ignored them, even Akane's voice. Something was happening to him. So strange that he couldn't react at all. He was fading away.
The sensation was so uncomfortable that he couldn't describe it. Though if he had to at all, he would say it was as if he was being folded out of...
Well... Reality he supposed.
"Ranma! You can stop it now! We get it, you can do things we can't!"
"Ranma honey? Ran-chan, please stop this. It's scaring us" Ukyo? probably.
Lifting his arms and watching as his body seemingly started to dissapear. He could only wonder what was happening to him. The uncomfortable feeling grew, his finger tips became numb. His toes followed suit. The weight of his pigtail suddenly dissapeared. Bringing his hands in front of him he could see that all the way up to his knuckles was gone, the feeling grew. His ankles felt numb, looking down his feet were missing.
He chose to sit on the ground.
His elbows were soon starting to disappear. But for some reason he couldn't really get worked up over this. He'd seen ghosts, why couldn't this happen. He was more worried that he was almost unconcerned at the prospect of simply disappearing. Then suddenly his vision went black. This his brain took as panic. He then registered the difference of his body. He could feel his hands and elbows, his feet and knees, and the weight of his pigtail was suddenly back. But his body now felt uncomfortable, as if he was slowly being folded...
Back into... Reality?
He didn't know how to describe the sensation of simply disappearing and reappearing. It's not like he should be familiar with it. He had never actually done it. Had he? He couldn't remember really, stuff just sort of happened and he just let it go its flow unless he disagreed with where it ended up. Then he changed it.
But could he really stop this... sudden... well, disappearing and reappearing in a different spot, transportation? Could he go back to the school grounds? Almost unconsciously he forced his ki into his body.
Poof!
Choking on the sudden amounts of smoke he tried to get the grayish stuff away from him. The ki had actually sped the process up. What ever said process was. He could wonder what had happened later. He finally realized that there was an outside world, or in his case, inside a room with no windows and four people staring at HIM in confusion.
---
What a bunch of idiots. To tie so many to the string of my plots to accomplish my own goals. It was really worth all the hard work, a few bribes here, a few more there, and suddenly I have a small squad of mercenaries at my beck and call. There was even some respect from them. Though at my old age I don't know how they ever heard of me. Eighty-five and people still hear of the stories of mass slaughter of innocents and the entire villages burnt to the ground.
It almost brought a tear to my eye.
To be remembered is such a beautiful thing. But those days were in the past. Now I had to follow my life long dream! The one accomplishment that would really change something! Something that I have worked on since becoming a missing-nin 45 years earlier.
Summoning a human from a different plane of existance!
So much hard work! So much to look forward to when I finally achieve something people often said impossible. But now, I had done it. I'm a freaking genius. Ignoring the dull ache that throbbed into my left shoulder, I squeezed it with my oppizite hand to alleviate the pain. Such a nuisance to have when I have finally done something so masterful! Sliding a throwing knife out of my sleeve with my left hand I look to the idiot lord I had been paying.
He's looking at me? Why look at me? My beautiful work is right in front of you! Look at that. This knife won't make it to you if you look at me! I'm to slow and old to kill you head on, look at the summoning of a human being! You may never see it again! Not that I plan on letting you.
Suddenly I fall. The pain in my left is burning, why couldn't I breathe? What did he do to me? What is happening? Where did this black come from? Am I dieing?
But I just reached my goal!
---
The old man was going to kill him! Why? What would that have done? Looking back through the glass a teenaged boy appeared in a puff of smoke. What was going on? what happened to Rakol? Walking to the back of the room and swinging open a door to the back alley where Rakol was supposed to be, I only saw a pale white man leaning against the bottom of the far wall. He was obviously dead, the sunk in cheeks and the mysted eyes. Where there was once a man that was filled with life there was now a man who had obviously been sacrificed. Probably unknowningly.
Now he understood why no one was willing to help this ol- no no... madman. He should have done some sort of research on him! Sacrificing humans for a technique was considered an S level violation, and often people were sent to kill who ever was responsible. Suddenly fear welled in him and he ran out the alley door and towards the street.
He never saw a hand with a knife. After all, who would suspect a knife wielding wall.
---
Akane could only stare at the spot where her fiance had been. Just stare, Ukyo miserably tossed a spatula at the spot and waited.
Would they ever see him again?
---
Ranma could only back into the wall of the room, in all honesty he could only look at the... whatever they were... as they pulled out several sharp and pointy objects. He would have no problem wiping the floor with these losers. They were no wheres in his league. But they did have weapons...
Lots of weapons.
Since he was in an enclosed space, with four apparent weapon users, and minimal room to move. He only had one question for himself.
Did he feel lucky?
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(Posted Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:52)
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