The Wondering Spirit

[OkeyDJ]

In the middle of forest a young looking man is propped against a tree. A reed in his mouth, limping on the side. He is wearing looks like traditional monk clothing and barefoot. His hair is thick with dreads and platinum blonde hair. If he wasn't so covered up, people would notice how pale his skin is. Right next to him is a wondrous bow. If a weapon specialist took a look at it, they would notice it was a custom made weapon with textures of aquatic greenery and wild life. Suddenly from the trees a little flying squirrel landed on the young man's head. It's spread body made it look like a hat on the man's head.

[Barnzi88]

Not far from the forest dwelt a simple village known as Mongkut.

Living in one of the huts was a woman clad in deep plum kimono complete with a black hood. She stood before a table where a white Hoshidonese styled mask was laid, and a scroll rolled out which had suspicious looking information written on it. The woman reads the contents of the scroll, and when she finishes she says nothing as she rolled it up and placed it in the pouch of her sleeve. She then picks up the mask and puts it on before leaving her hut, but not before securing the entrance with wires so barely visible and sharp that whoever dares to try and break in her home would end up in slices.

Once the wires were in place, the young woman set off towards her destination, following the road leading to the forest.

[OkeyDJ]

Suddenly the young man yawns very, very loudly that anyone or anything could hear him. His little companion who was also nestling on top of his head jumped from the sudden noise.

The man sat up straight while stretching his arms. Than another yawn escaped his mouth. "Ugh...what time is it..." He wiped the little bit of drool of his face, than another sound came...from his stomach. "ohhh so hungry..."

[Barnzi88]

The masked woman continued her stroll along the road through the forest. The scroll's contents informed her that she was to be in the next town to meet with a certain client.

Another hit on some worthless soul, perhaps. She mused to herself. Anything to kill the boredom I suppose.

She stops suddenly in her tracks as she saw a group of thugs ahead of her. She remained perfectly still and scrutinized the leader closely. Hmm...speaking of killing boredom...

" You are Sokurabi, correct?" He snickered. "You owe us BIG time for that little stunt you pulled on us back in Phnomkai." He gestures to his men to surround her, attempting to intimidate her.

Sokurabi just stood there and cocked at her head at the leader. Under the mask, she smirked darkly.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren perked his head when he heard someone talking. Ren yawned again before getting up while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Ohhh...should we go and see what is happening?" He questioned his little companion." When he didn't hear an "answer" he shrugged and jumped in the trees heading towards the voices. "Whatever you say my friend."

He finally reached the road where he saw thugs and a woman standing not to far away. Ren arched his eyebrow and than sat down in the tree. "Hmmm..." He looked at the thugs and than looked at the woman.

He looked plucked his little friend off his head and put him on the tree next to him before pulling his bow and stringing an arrow in place. Ready to start shooting if something fishy goes down.

[Barnzi88]

The encircling gang readied their weapons against the kunoichi, giving her looks so deadly they could kill. However, before they could attack her she vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving them gobsmacked. As they snapped back and forth in search of her, one goon suddenly screamed as he is sliced violently into three and collapsed on the ground, horrifying his comrades.

Right behind where he fell was Sokurabi, in a crouched fighting stance and with her arms stretched wide. She cocks her head at them, seemingly grinning at them from underneath her mask.

Seething, the leader barked. "WELL!? DON'T STAND AROUND! KILL THE BITCH!"

Not wanting to disobey him for an instant, the goons rushed at her.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren shudders at the one goons death but he quickly recovers and smirks. These men were hardly wearing any armor and he could tell even if this woman was wear clothing he knew not a single scratch will touch her. But Ren shrugged. He was bored...why not have some fun.

Ren aimed carefully before letting an arrow fly. It literally zipped right past the woman, slicing a few strands of hair before hitting one of the goons in the chest. Ren than let two more fly before stopping. He smirked a bit more and sighed. "Well...that was fun." He smirked while dangling a leg over the branch he was at.

[Barnzi88]

Sokurabi felt something dart past her face but could care less who killed the others for her. She had her sight set on the leader who was beyond angry and fearful, he just wanted her dead right here and now. He screamed as he charged swinging his spear at her, which Sokurabi dodged easily by flinging lithely to the side.

She drew cat-claws from her sleeve and lunged at her foe with a swift swipe, slashing off his top and giving him a deep gash across the chest, earning an agonized cry from him.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren than turned his back against the bark feeling a bit tired now. "Oh, now I am tired..." He yawns and wiggles his back against the tree to make himself little bit more comfortable. But his little companion jumped off the bark and glide all the way down to the small battle and started sniffing around and suddenly he pulled a little pouch out from one goons pocket and with disbelieving strength, he started shuffling to the tree his master was in and started climbing.

[Barnzi88]

Sokurabi took notice of the little creature, but decided to let it be as she had more urgent business to attend to. Besides, whoever her client is to be will pay her far more than whatever little coinage those petty thugs owned.

She glanced around the forest one last time, presumably looking for whoever shot those arrows earlier, but no response came. With that, she resumed her trek down the road.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren watched the woman walk off and yawns again. Than he felt a little weight on his lap, he looked down and saw his little friend with the pouch looking all proud.

"Aww, look at you Manta, did you pick something up for me?" Ren reached in his pack and pulled out a couple of nuts and berries. Manta, the flying squirrel jumped in his hand and started to chow down. Ren smiles more before opening the pouch he received from his little companion. Ren's mind kept going back to the woman below. Ren sighed with a smirk. "Should we follow?"

Ren asked Manta who is still nibbling away on his treat. Ren yawned again. "Might as well, might wake me up a bit..." And with extreme stealth Ren followed after the woman assassin, curiosity got the better of him.

[Barnzi88]

Within an hour Sokurabi reached her destination, a village much larger than Mongkut and close to the ocean. She followed the scrolls' instructions towards a tavern where her client awaited her. Checking to see no one followed her, she enters the tavern.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren followed her every step of the way. He watched as she entered the tavern and after a couple of seconds he followed right in as well. He looked around for a table or chair to sit. His stomach started to growl.

"hmm...maybe I will get something to drink."

"Hey pretty boy, what you smiling about?" A thug came over to Ren, who is still having his same ol' smile on.

"Nothing my good fellow, just a wondering spirit looking for something to eat and drink." Ren snuck past the brute to the bar to get something to eat. While he walked he kept his eye out for his mysterious ninja.

[Barnzi88]

Sokurabi gave no eye contact with anyone whatsoever, keeping entirely to herself as she quietly looked around for her client. So far, no sight of them yet, so she took to sitting down at a table located far right in the corner where it was nice and dark.

A few patrons took notice of the masked woman in purple and then quickly returned to their drinking and other leisurely activities. Some of them knew exactly who she was and the last thing they ever wanted to do was get on her bad side, having witnessed her no-nonsense brutality first hand. But sometimes, there are several men either too foolish or unaware of who Sokurabi was.

While she waited, three mean-looking thugs dressed in fur armour approached her table but she didn't turn her head or bothered to acknowledge them in any way.

"Hey sweetheart, that's MY spot you've taken. Unless you want trouble, I suggest you vacate it. NOW." Threatened the short, weighty thug. Silence hung in the air. Impatient, the tubby man drew his blade. "Listen you little Hoshidonese whore. Don't think I won't gut you just because you are a wo--"

Sokurabi raised her hand, interrupting the weighty thug, who looked at her with his eyebrow raised with suspicion. The other patrons glanced from the corner of their eyes with hints of fear in them, for they knew what awaited the foolish trio. With a flick of her wrist, the weighty man's head was suddenly sliced clean off with blood spurting out from his neck like a fountain. His companions, horrified of what they just witnessed, ran out like little frightened dogs, leaving behind Sokurabi in her spot, with dark wires glistening between her fingers.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren turned. Not because the sight of blood got the best of him, on the contrary. He was trying so hard not to laugh. His whole body was shaking. This was the excitement he was looking for all these lonely wondering years. With out him knowing Manta glided over to Sokurabi and the dead thug and just like before int he forest. Manta sniffed around until he found a pouch of coin and with unbelievable strength he ran back over to Ren who was drinking water down to clear his now tired and scratchy throat.

[Barnzi88]

Two employees of the tavern cleared out the thug's body and head whilst a maid nervously cleaned the blood off the floor. Sokurabi simply ignored them as they did their job.

After a few minutes, two tall dark-clad men entered the tavern. One of them spotted Sokurabi and strolled casually towards her. She catches them at the corner of her and recognized them right away as her clients.

"Sokurabi, I presume." One spoke coolly. "Follow after me."

Without another word, Sokurabi followed after the two into a private room, and the door shut securely to keep out any unwanted peeps.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren turned back around in time to see which room they were in and just watched the door. But after a minute, Ren's head tilted all the way back, he was fast asleep. A lot of the patrons just stared at him in disbelief. Ren had great balance like he has done this before. Ren started snoring slightly after a bit. Manta made it back over to Ren and wiggled his way up the chair and plopped the pouch in Ren's lap and crawled up Ren's face and curled in his hair.

Many thugs and thieves noticed the nice pouch of coin in Ren's lap. One smirked and walked over, very gingerly. When he was in arms length. The man stopped when he saw an arrow pointing at him. Many of the people in the tavern gaped as the aglity this man had. In a blink of an eye, the man was away with his bow drawn and an arrow cocked ready to be released, point blank.

Ren looked at him with cold eyes but an even more chilling smile. "Bad idea, my friend..." The man started to inch backwards. Apologizing and nearly begging.

Then Ren released the arrow and the man was down on his back with an arrow in between his eyes. Ren turned back to the owner and maid. "Lively day isn't it?"

[Barnzi88]

About two hours later, the masked woman remerged from the private room. She wasted no time and strolled right out of the tavern and back towards Mongkut.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren is still sleeping in the tavern, after that last incident, many people didn't want anything to do with Ren. Manta is nibbling on some treats he found in Ren's pocket.

[Barnzi88]

Sokurabi casually made her way back on the road to the village, if not in a slightly hurried manner. If any were to decipher how she was feeling under her mask, it was one of great anticipation. Perhaps she had been offered a reward greater than she could've ever asked for....or demanded for.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren snorted awake and looked around. He noticed the door where the woman went through was open. His face went straight, which doesn't happen very much. "Awe..." He looked around to notice any signs of the woman. When he didn't find anything he turned to someone.

"Excuse me good sir, did you see where that woman in the mask went?" Turned out, it was the same men she went into the room with.

[Barnzi88]

The cloaked men gave Ren a cold, emotionless look before walking right past him, ignoring him outright.

[OkeyDJ]

Ren blinked. "That was rude..." Ren shrugged and left the tavern as well. Ren just followed after the two. "If you could just point me in the general direction, I would really appreciate it." When they said nothing Ren resisted the urge to shoot an arrow in their backs but he knew that wasn't going to find his new entertainment.

He looked around the town and asked people if they know anything. He found out her name and her "occupation". Than he went in one direction and a traveler said he saw a woman in a mask walking towards Mongkut. Ren bowed for thanks and started running.

[Barnzi88]

Sokurabi was already half-way to Mongkut.

The sun was starting to set, and staying out after dark in a place like the Free Islands is highly dangerous. Not that it worried someone like Sokurabi, she simply wished to avoid dealing with troublesome would-be bandits and the like.

She strolled along, minding her business as usual when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and stood extremely still.