“Oi, you brat, get back here!” The frustration was evident on his face as he smoothly pushed his way through the crowded streets of the Sand Dunes. The place hadn’t changed much since he used to reside here, but how much could one expect from an area widely known for theft, assault, poverty, and a whole lot of other crimes in the area. Even those attempting to enforce the law here consistently failed. There was no possible sight that he could see that would change things completely, at least not until some authority figure went ahead and actively did something to resolve the issue. Even then, those who actively would participate in the criminal nature associated with the Sand Dunes wouldn’t merely accept these changes. He supposed, no matter how things went, the Sand Dunes would forever stay a slump, at least for the foreseeable future.

Trying to make his way through the crowded street, trying to find the brat who took his coin bag, Seiryū let out a groan as to display his frustration with the situation. Sure, the kid likely could use the money to help himself out, though considering everything that went on here, he highly doubted that was the case. If anything, it was likely that the kid was working for someone. Someone who had likely threatened the boy some way or another. Seiryū had been in a similar position when he was younger, just out of the orphanage and trying to support himself over the years. Sure, over time, he had finally escaped this hellhole, but it was his hellhole, the one he grew up in, thus he decided to see if the orphanage on the far side needed any help. It was simple to deduce that a detour had shown up the minute a little girl bumped in to him and a boy had come running by, like a gust of wind. It took a few seconds for him to realize he was missing a light weight from his left pocket, the side that boy had run by. While he could acknowledge the boy’s aptitude for being sneaky, he had chosen the wrong target.

Now, while one not to hurt little kids, nor the innocent, the kunai whirling about Seiryū’s right index finger was going to be more to frighten the boy, or halt him in his tracks, to get back his coin bag. Afterwards, he would see what he could do to assist the boy, though Seiryū was rather limited in options for the time being. The only things of use in his arsenal, currently, were the kunai he was holding and the six senbon hidden on his person. He knew how things occurred around here, having gone through similar situations during the time he lived here.

His eyes caught sight of the boy once more, seeing him turning towards an ally. The kid’s blonde hair continued to shine, the sun being able to light it up. Seiryū knew that if he lost the boy in the alleyways, it would be difficult to find him again. So long as no one got in his way, Seiryū knew that he would catch up to the boy.

As his dark brown boots pressed against the ground, Seiryū turned towards the direction of the alley, ready at any moment to take to the rooftops of the slums. While he wasn't particularly dressed in athletic gear, his clothing could easily pass for strenuous activities. With the lack of his usual half-mask, Seiryū shuffled the kunai back in to the right pocket of his black cargo pants. Taking his left arm across his body, placing his hand on the back of his right shoulder, Seiryū moved it around a bit, trying to get the crack out of it. As his left hand left the material of the grey t-shirt, Seiryū took off at a decent speed, in to the alleyway, more than eager to get back his money.

---

Post Word Count: 668
Total Word Count: 668

A travesty, if there ever was one. There wasn't any time to lose, here.

Taede, rarely as it occurred, was late. His tardiness overcame him with a bit of panic...he ran frantically through the dark, slightly dank open-air corridors that the arbitrarily-built structures and buildings formed. At least a small bit of ser-en-dipity was on his side at this point. He lived quite near the Slums for a good portion of his childhood....not quite inside the area, but close enough to have to navigate through it on the odd occasion. So, the nooks and crannies, the alley-ways and random turns were all working to his advantage rather than to a detriment. Admittedly, Taede knew little of the troubles that plagued the Sand Dunes, and never quite got the opportunity. His somewhat-loose shirt flapped a tad as the air rushed past him. That was...distinct?

“Oi, you brat, get back here!”

A rushed Taede was shocked by the exclamation. In his flurry of thoughts, he hadn't noted the T-shaped intersection that was coming up before him. Before he knew it, he was unable to stop; he was certain he would hit the wall. The gritty, compressed sand closed in on his field of vision rapidly, even as his shoes skidded across the silty ground. His collision was inevitable.

And collide he did. With a vertical wall-shaped surface? Not quite. A young lad was what he hit, and with some force to boot. It was either plain misfortune, or this one was running just as fast as Taede was. It was....rather easy to get out of his way if he was running so quickly. The Koizumi stood up promptly, and dusted himself off. The boy, at least five years his junior, was still prone on the ground; the ninja purported that he might have been concussed. Such a high-velocity impact was nothing to shake a stick at, and was to be treated immediately. Taede's hope was that hopefully he could get this unintended victim healed in a prompt manner, before any real damage set in.


A hand met either side of the child's head, near the ears but slightly forward, about at the temporal love. His eyes fluttered open almost immediately after Taede began channeling chakra, but he maintained a slightly firm grip. He wanted to treat this thoroughly. "I'm...terribly sorry for having done that. It was a complete accident...."

Taede looked around to find that they weren't alone. A figure was standing in what seemed to be where the alley branched off into the main street. A figure that seemed....oddly menacing. Taede stood up not abruptly, but decisively. "I don't suppose you were the one that sent him running....?" The young man took a tentative stance, not completely insinuating he expected a fight but still emanating his trepidation. A stern look adorned him as he stepped in front of the child.

[505]

The moment his steps resounded through the alleyway was the moment that Seiryū was aware that it was hit or miss to get his coin bag back. After all, it was rightfully his; even if he knew how it felt to be on the other side of the argument from his days residing here. His eyes were directed straight ahead, noticing a movement of the familiar shade of hair darting left from the intersection of the alleyway, his feet already moving faster than they had been initially, eager to catch this supposed thief, if the boy could be called such for being caught out so quickly. Moving faster, Seiryū reached the end of the alleyway, no longer being able to go straight as it split off in to a t-shaped intersection, having seen the boy immediately take a left, Seiryū did not halt in his movements as he turned on a dime around the corner, trying to catch the boy.

Not even then, he heard a noise originate from straight ahead, as the boy ploughed straight in to a man, who could be slightly older than Seiryū himself. This in itself could potentially cause an issue for the white-haired shinobi, as the two sat up as he stood there, a slightly pensive look gracing his features, though it could easily be ignored due to the annoyance Seiryū was feeling for the inconvenience caused by the unknown boy. Of course, he couldn’t entirely fault him, as he had been there himself once before, but being on the other end, he figured how others had felt years back. The older man had stood up shortly after the collision, dusting himself off and then proceeded to touch the boy’s temple. There were one of two conclusions that Seiryū could easily come up with to explain this. One, the man was a kind stranger whom felt the boy needed healing. Or the second, which was Seiryū’s immediate answer, was that the boy and the man were affiliated with one another. Trying to keep a glare from gracing his features, Seiryū just waited until they would realize his presence there. It wasn’t difficult to know that they weren’t the only two in the alleyway at the moment.

It took a mere moment before the older individual had caught sight of him. In just another mere moment, he began to speak, "I don't suppose you were the one that sent him running....?" It wasn’t difficult for anyone to deduce fully what Seiryū’s goal was, though perhaps figuring out the reasoning behind it was rather difficult for someone to deduce given they had no idea what the situation at hand called for.

Seiryū, having decided that this person before him was aligned with the boy, not having a heard a single word that was uttered between them, kept his guard up, though tried to get an exact read on the man getting in his way from retrieving his belongings. Of course, he was out of practice when it came to utilizing his father’s kekkei genkai to its fullest, yet he usually was able to get enough information that was beneficial to Seiryū’s goals. Taking a moment to get read of the man, he was able to deduct that he was a bit puzzled, when it came to the situation, that the confusion seemed genuine enough for Seiryū  to dispose of his initial conclusion. So, he was in fact a complete stranger. Keeping his eyes on the man, but never losing sight of the pickpocket, Seiryū spoke with resolve, “In a sense, yes I am responsible. But, he brought it upon himself by taking things which don’t belong to him.” Of course, if this were the past, Seiryū could’ve called himself a hypocrite, yet here he stood, standing on the different end of the spectrum.

---

651 of 1319 Total Words

It was a shame that things had to start like this between him and the stranger. Taede never was one to begin any relationship off on the wrong foot. Even if it was not necessarily the case with this person....such a confrontation almost never boded well for future interactions. It was just how these things sort of worked. The gravity that had surrounded Taede's presence had not yet vanished, as he was yet unsure of what this man intended on doing with the boy. Worst-case scenario, here, was not looking good. Not at all. Of course, saying that this was the worst-case. But....Taede's mind cooked up something otherwise. As long as he was present, the worst case was never bound to happen. Either that, or he makes something far worse than his imagined worst case become truth.

“In a sense, yes I am responsible. But, he brought it upon himself by taking things which don’t belong to him.”

Taede relaxed his stance only in the slightest, and sighed to himself, muttering a little. "The things that kids these days are brought to...."

He stood fully upright at this point, and did a few idle leg-lunges from side to side.


With a swift motion, the adolescent-looking man took a large step back, and knelt at the youth's somewhat-lifeless body. He was, at the moment, still breathing at the very least. The Koizumi swiped the coin-bag from the now-relaxed hand of the little boy, and tossed it at the man before him.


The young man put his hands crossed in front of him; not high near his chest, but lax-ly hanging near his abdomen. His expression was a little more relaxed at this point, over the squabble that had happened. At any rate, that young boy wasn't waking up at any time within the hour. From the sun, he'd guess it was....one, two before noon. The day was still young, so he had to hurry.

His head cocked a bit as he heard...someone further into the labyrinth of alleyways. A group, it sounded like....a group of yelling men. Delightful. Hopefully they were playing some sort of sport or other; anger or crime at this point would only serve to irk Taede just a little bit more. "You know any of those?" was the only thing that his mouth. He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

[470]

The moment that the words escaped Seiryū, he wondered if the male before him would continue with his agitation towards him, or simply be able to understand the simple situation at hand. Seiryū caught a light sound in the air, yet couldn’t make anything of it, though was relieved when he noticed the stance of the male protecting the boy relaxing, though he only noticed it due to the tension seemingly escaping the man.

"I do hope you are thinking naught, anything, of corporal punishment for this one.”

Seiryū hadn’t been thinking along those lines whatsoever, in fact, he’d rather know what drove the boy to do so. Scratch that. He knew why. He wanted to know who. It had been so long since he’d been in a similar situation, which Seiryū knew exactly how the boy could have been caught up in such a thing. Considering the amount of crime that occurred in the Sand Dunes, Seiryū had no doubt that it was one of those pesky thugs trying to enforce whatever authority he had been granted due to the gang he had joined. Or something along those lines. Dropping the weapon in his hand back in to his pocket, Seiryū relaxed his stance, going back to his normal, regular stance. Then again, it was no different from anyone else standing normally.

Not expecting the man to do so, but clearly seeing his motions, Seiryū caught the coin-bag that was his, the one he had been seeking to retrieve. “Corporal punishment? No. I know what it’s like to be where he is. Rather, I want to know who is telling him to do such things.” Tossing the bag in the air once, Seiryū caught it in the palm of his hand before tossing it back in to his pocket where he had originally stored it. His eyes went to the boy, the state of the boy easily apparent to one’s eyes; Seiryū had the sense that it would be some time before the nameless kid woke up.

When the questions posed from the still unknown man reached Seiryū’s ears, he wondered exactly where this person was going, seeing as how he hadn’t specified where, just that he was taking a short cut himself. Blinking, Seiryū looked at him in the eyes, knowing full well there was no point in lying right now. After all, he assumed they both were shinobi of Sunagakure no Sato. “For your first question, I am. I had a mission the other day, so I think I deserve a day off. After all, there is only so much cat chasing a person can do.” Seiryū’s eyes travlled around the alley, just taking in the environment, knowing full well that anything could happen at any given moment. “As for the weapons, you never know when they come in handy. You’re never truly safe.” He took a hesitant step forward, just a single step. Seiryū had stopped quite a bit away, so it was a bit awkward talking from such a length, though he did not want to step in to close, not wanting to aggravate the conscious individual. “Anyways, I was heading over to the orphanage where I was raised, was going to see if they needed help.” He answered every question that was posed to him, the questions quickly escaping his mind after he answered each one. As an afterthought, Seiryū added, “I could ask you where you’re going in such a hurry that you knock out a kid.” He tried to make light of the situation as much as he could, though it would be distasteful for him if he went further. Often liking to keep a light mood, he attempted such with his last comment.

"You know any of those?"

Seiryū was slightly confused at first, wondering what he could mean exactly, though listening closely, he could hear a noise coming from one of the surrounding alleys. Looking at the expression of the male, Seiryū automatically assumed he wouldn’t know them either, hence the question. Nor did Seiryū get the sense from him that he was telling a lie. A simple “No,” was Seiryū’s response to the inquiry of knowing the racket makers.

A few seconds passed by, the alleyway quieting down for just a couple of seconds, before the noise from the group rose once again. Seiryū tried to make out a single word from all of it, yet failed solely due to the face every voice was speaking over the other.

Another couple of seconds passed, the noise becoming louder, letting Seiryū know that they were closing in on their locations. From the amount of noise, and voices, Seiryū assumed there were at least four individuals coming their way, though he wouldn’t be surprised if there were a couple of more hoodlums. Glancing towards the still unknown person, Seiryū simply gave a look that explained his confusion about the situation at hand. “So, do we stick around for whatever that is or get out of here?” Looking towards the unconscious kid, Seiryū knew they couldn’t exactly leave him be. “I say we stay. Can’t leave him,” Seiryū nodded in the direction of the passed out kid, “to deal with whatever’s coming here. One of us would have to carry him out.” Seiryū knew what would happen to the boy if they left him, and it was definitely worse than what was expected of Seiryū – though the Imada wasn’t going to do anything.

---

930 of 2249 Total Words

“Corporal punishment? No. I know what it’s like to be where he is. Rather, I want to know who is telling him to do such things.”

Taede held his stance as rigid as he had been, until he had heard and processed the complete thought that the man's words had carried. A sigh of relief had come without his conscious permission, but nothing ill could come of that little slip. His entire body seemingly automatically transitioned from a ready position to a normal standing gait, walking over to the boy and proceeding to re-use his Erasure Technique. It wasn't much trouble....he had done some initial treatment from the beginning, so the boy awoke to an admittedly very groggy state within seconds of being mended a second time even by Taede's weak healing techniques. It wasn't a very grievous injury, after all; it had seemed that a concussion wasn't likely in this case, if he was so easily resuscitated.

He wondered who this man actually was....for starters, he didn't wear an apparent Suna-Gakure no Sato hitai-ate; the forehead protector or other symbol would at least distinguish him as a friendly presence. Not prudent.

“For your first question, I am. I had a mission the other day, so I think I deserve a day off. After all, there is only so much cat chasing a person can do. As for the weapons, you never know when they come in handy. You’re never truly safe. Anyways, I was heading over to the orphanage where I was raised, was going to see if they needed help. I could ask you where you’re going in such a hurry that you knock out a kid.”

The dirty blonde gave a nod and a nonverbal utterance of agreement.


A simple, one-word answer was the reply to Taede's last query, and it was a good thing....at any rate, this wouldn't be good for either of them. "I doubt they're any degree worse than either of us at navigating this area, they seem pretty comfortable here. We won't be able to run from them while trying to drag him along....we could try, but I don't like the odds."

And no odds were in Taede's favor, at least. As soon as he had finished his sentence, on the far side of the alley the logical source(s?) of the noise had come into view. One of them at least was imprudent enough to rush in without thinking. Taede supposed that the two of them were at least an inkling alike in that fashion. His rowdiness, though.... well, Taede had one word for that.

He stepped at least three meters in front of the man and the boy, in a slight stance; those with trained eyes could tell that his shoulder-width foot placement meant he was ready to execute something or other. The older one, almost a foot taller than him and bulky to boot, was still incoming. Taede was rather adept in this area; his specific style was perfect for dealing with combat idiots like this one. It was doubtful he was a ninja.

A single slid foot moved between the man's legs. and Taede bent his body with the goliath's movements rather than against; this was a hip throw. By placing his hand on the underside of the thigh and the front of the abdomen, the Taijutsu ninja was able to easily use the man's weight as momentum to lift him off the ground. Now, Taede wasn't superbly strong, but simple finesse could sometimes provide some of that necessary power.

He used gravity and his own muscle to slam the man into the ground, lifting into a front-flip axe kick as he did so using the circular momentum from the throw. His one-word thought came before the resulting crash and slight cracking noise.


He did a backflip over the body laying on the ground, writhing a little but seemingly not down for the count. Though there was little if any measurable distance between the boy and this hulking person, Taede as a user (however inadept) of Shikidō was meant to be the living embodiment of a barrier. He wouldn't let that reputation down, however unknown the style was.

The quick exertion left him without words, as he simply was breathing a little heavily at this point. The young man simply gave a two-second glance to the one standing next to him before looking forward again.

There were still two more that he hadn't paid attention to. Oh, what to do....

[848]

293+360+405 words to train a stat from D-0 to D-3; 1058 words, in essence.
360+405 words to train a stat from D-1 to D-3; 765 words.

1823/1823 words is Reaction Time and Endurance trained to D-3, remainder of 6 words; I'm no longer training stats in this thread.

Standing still, he simply watched the male whom he was conversing with step three meters forward, putting more distance between the unconscious lad and himself. He merely watched as the male fell in to a combat stance, knowing what was to come from this encounter, though avoiding it wasn’t truly within the realm of possibilities as the male had distinctly told him so. Seiryū’s hand travelled back to his pocket where his kunai and senbon lay against his upper thigh. After using them for so many years, Seiryū never really had to worry about pricking himself from the sharp metal, as experience allowed him to easily draw out the weapons with ease. His index finger slipped in to the ring on the pommel, and then proceedingly made his finger a hook to draw out the kunai. As his hand escaped the realm of his pocket, Seiryū spun the kunai around his index finger, the rest of his hand closed in to a fist to avoid being nicked by his own weapon.

As the goliath of a man began to charge in their direction, though the obstacle of a person between Seiryū and the giant would simply allow Seiryū to watch the oncoming collision. As the two came closer to one another, Seiryū noticed his unnamed ally bend his body in line with the other’s movements, and seamlessly lift the individual from the ground, with a kick thrown in there as if it was one entire movement. As he watched the man flip over the body on the ground next to him, though it was likely the giant would be getting up soon, Seiryū caught sight of the other individuals on the area. Noticing the nod from the corner of his eye, Seiryū only briefly returned a nod as well, as he tossed his kunai to his left hand, his right hand going back to his pocket to draw out two senbon, both pinched between his thumb, index and middle finger.

Without a word, Seiryū didn’t charge forward, instead he stepped to the side, away from the man who landed next to him. Immediately, Seiryū held the kunai in his left hand in such a way that it was facing away from his opponents when his hand rested at his side. He shifted the senbon such that one was in the crook of his index and middle finger, while the other remained between his thumb and index finger. As the two other hooligans charged towards Seiryū and his unknown partner, Seiryū swiftly threw the senbon held by his thumb at middle finger towards the scrawniest of the bunch. His aim wasn’t to kill them; but if he had to, he would, just to deter them from going forward and continually continuing their attack. Seiryū would rather get the kid out of here. His aim down low, aiming towards the left of the groin, though he knew with the movement of the individual, that it would not hit where he wanted it to, but it would do. Quickly moving the other senbon to a more comfortable throwing position, Seiryū began to move towards them in a slight run, this time aiming high and for the right eye of the same individual. Best to get rid of one and then move on to the next one and if one was temporarily – or permanently – blinded, so be it. The first senbon pierced in to the individual’s thigh, just out of range of the femoral artery, with the second one coming in direct contact with the eye.

Seiryū watched as the second individual kept moving towards him, though he was far more wary of the larger individual whom was on the floor as a result of the male, whom he still had no idea of his name. Just briefly, Seiryū looked over his shoulder to see what was going on with his temporary ally.

---

655 of 2904 Total Words

Taede noted that this person he met....well, he wasted no time in getting to his objective, that much was certain. It should have been apparent from the start, really. His peer (it seemed odd to call him that, in his own mind at least) was on what could be called a direct beeline for the child that'd stolen his coin-bag. And now, in the midst of battle....he was so calculating, so un-apologetic about each one of his actions. It was honestly, if only the tini'st little bit, frightening for Taede to watch. Such pinpoint strikes, and from Taede's own knowledge of the body's weak points (as he worked so hard to work past his own) he knew that the Kōga was at least vaguely aiming to kill. Perhaps to maim, but they didn't have time to discuss the intricacies of in-capacitating a pursuer right now. They were busy incapacitating pursuers, after all.

The young man, fairly new to the experience of combat secondhand, winced notably at his com-patriot's actions. An attack aiming at the fermoral artery....and the most literal eye gouge he had ever seen. The first stab bled profusely. It was almost unthinkable how much blood poured from that tiny little puncture wound; the senbon probably was blocking some of the systolic flow, but each diastole returned more blood to the wound, and was pumped out of the man's leg. But this didn't stop at that, since the man was going nowhere except closer to the body on the floor. What did they even want with him....!?

The second attack went for the man's eye, straight through the cornea and lens into the retina. Now that was harsh....Taede felt at least himself lucky that the needle was lodged in there, and only went so far in. It was neither a fatal injury on its own, nor did he have to see any of the inner eye fluid leak out from the puncture wound. He was a medic, but some things even he would go without seeing. He liked to be able to eat and keep down his food for the week.

At any rate, this really was not at all the time to be grossed out by an attack whose purpose was the same as Taede's. He needed to end this quick, and he wanted it done now. He had a mission to get to after he was done here - conversing and fighting and all that had taken up a good deal of his time - so he knew just what to do. It was not his favorite maneuver for being a bit dishonorable, but it was indubitably effective. That was, he supposed, the essence of what the Kōga did....perhaps what it meant to be a ninja. Honor and all that were so subjective that it was difficult to keep track of such. It seemed much easier and much more befitting a shinobi to use any means necessary to achieve an end. Taede was fine with doing this, but...he liked to at least re-tain some of his morals.

Rushing past the man's shoulder, over which he was looking, Taede delivered two sharp strikes to the man who was approaching his ally. A right knife-hand to the front of the neck and a reverse palm strike with the left, to the diaphragm. It was a simple and effortless, single movement, and outwardly appeared to have almost no meaningful force behind it. Despite what it looked like, the Koizumi's target dropped to his knees, and, as Taede back'd himself just in time, to a prone position on the ground. The Suna-Genin raced back to the man on the floor that was trying to get up; he took advantage of the fact that he was lying face-up at the time being, having turned over from his face-in-floor position a moment ago. This, too, was dispatched by the sand ninja; a few quick taps to his torso, and he was groaning in pain. Nothing too dastardly did Taede effect on them, but enough to allow their escape.



[728~


293+360+405 words to train a stat from D-0 to D-3; 1058 words.
360+405 words to train a stat from D-1 to D-3; 765 words.

1823/1823 words is Reaction Time and Endurance trained to D-3, remainder of 6 words.

6+728=734. 675/734, trained a D-rank jutsu.

If things could have taken a far easier route, a peaceful one, Seiryū wouldn’t have minded in the slightest, in fact it would’ve been easier to deal with than the current situation at hand, though considering his ally, the situation brought before them was dealt with rather quickly. With the giant of a man brought down by the other individual, and with Seiryū’s quick, but slightly brutal, deposing of another, turned the numbers in their favour within just mere seconds. From what he could gather, these people had no actual training when it came to being shinobi, or even simple street fighting, as things would definitely have been far more difficult, and, by association, interesting to say the least. However, the Imada couldn’t really complain about such at a time like this, as he would rather just find the sole individual responsible for still going about getting kids to do dirty work.

He slightly cringed when he looked back and saw his senbon implanted in the male’s eye. The lack of blood gushing out from the area was a slight relief, though the biggest one came as he drew to the conclusion that none of this would be traced back to him, at least by official authorities. When one took in to account the line of work of their attackers, they wouldn’t rely upon the authorities to detain him, rather they’d do it themselves, as the policing force was out for them as well due to the various crimes. The senbon in the eye… well, there was nothing he could do about it now, only just look on and deduce that he’d likely be at the top of that person’s list of hated individuals – he could live with that. He felt no remorse doing so, for one they deserved what was coming to them. Secondly, they should’ve known not to charge head first in to someone, knowing full well that their opposition could be shinobi. Finally, as a shinobi, one would have to grow used to doing such things, as this was essentially nothing compared to stories told by the older generations of ninja.

His eyes caught sight of the brown haired male, his ally, as he went ahead and knocked out the last remaining male with the use of his hands, a simple feat, yet something that denoted skill within the area as well. Now, two were down, and the largest to fall down was slowly getting back up, though he came short, as the Koizumi went back to him with a flurry to the larger chest, effectively putting the man back down to the ground, the groans escaping him reached Seiryū’s ears.

The words were quick, but he had heard them. It took just a mere moment for the person fighting alongside him to effectively disappear from Seiryū’s sight, though he left the boy which had brought him here with him. For someone who had initially thought the worst of him, Seiryū had assumed that the male would stay until he had left the boy completely alone, though it would have left him with unfinished business. As it were, Seiryū was free to deal with the boy, though he simply only had a few questions that needed straightforward answers. The most complicated answer he would need would be names and locations. Hearing a moan, Seiryū’s eyes went towards the sole person who brought him here, walking towards him slowly, not wanting to frighten the kid. The kids sight travelled around, before landing on him.

“I just have a few questions about who put you up to this. I promise I won’t hurt you, I just wanted what was mine. After I take care of whoever put you up to this, I’ll help you out in whatever way I can. Giving money for free excluded.” His voice was calm as he knelt down, a few steps away from the boy. The answer, for now, was a simple nod from the boy, indicating his agreement.

---

680 of 3584 Total Words

Training: