”You didn't know I was here, therefore, you don't need to apologize."
At his words, Mari felt some relief life off her shoulders. Truly, there hadn’t been a need for her to be sorry, it had just been her first instinct to blame herself for something she never could have prevented or predicted. Still, she knew this man, however little it was, she had be concerned over his situation. She still cared. Yet her concern didn’t need to be said in words, action would be better. And with the appearance of this monster, she had to prove that she did want to protect him. Even if it meant to the risking death, she would not let her resolve falter. It was only right, only just, to keep her word, even to that extreme, yet it also seemed Razan himself would have some protest in that respect.
"I can't not on good conscious allow you to risk your life for me. Let me help yo - - "
She didn’t hear the rest of his statement, already gone charging toward the grotesque beast. But, she did turn her eyes of the sound of a shrill scream. She caught sight of another figure with him, but she didn’t have time to let her mind wander from her current opponent. The thing she saw wasn’t a monster, she could tell from her glance, but she needed to do away with this one quickly.
With her fight done in the next few moments, Razan had tried calming down the frantic woman, the person that Mari had seen with him. She was ragged and fearful, another survivor of this place, yet not as capable of protecting herself as either Mari or Razan had been. At his request to watch over her, Mari nodded, calming her own heavy breathing. The woman came to her side quickly, though careful to stay away from the corpse of the thing Mari had just done away with. The Suna Shinobi put a gentle smile on her face toward the frightened woman, slightly turning so she wouldn’t see the blood on her arm. ”Please, keep calm, you are safe now.”
Mari had noticed the black beast from the shadows as soon as her fight had ended. The reason for the woman’s fear, it lurked on fours limbs with odd, almost human like appendages sprouting from its back. Oddly without eyes, it seemed to navigated by smell or sound. Mari would’ve jumped in to help right away, had it not been for the woman that needed reassuring (and Razan’s sudden delegation that she be the one to watch over her). Yet she realized that Razan himself must’ve been a capable man if he had killed that monster, if not more so than herself. She needed to trust him not only as someone that needed protecting, but someone that could protect himself. It wasn’t to say that she would go back on her word that she would protect him. She just knew that he wasn’t entirely helpless. She would be there when he needed her, just as today, fate somehow brought them together in this place. Could it only have been by coincidence that they did meet? Everything happened for a reason, Mari was a believer in such destiny.
For now all she could be was a spectator in this battle. It wasn’t something she was exactly content with, especially as the beast disappeared from sight, taking advantage of Razan’s distraction of sending the woman to Mari. She wouldn’t time to complain anymore as the girl suddenly felt another presence behind her. Another one?!
She spun around, only to find nothing but darkness in the hallway, no limbs or growls reaching through the blackness. The unnerving presence of nothing did little to reassure her. She not only had Razan, but this woman to watch over, Mari needed to be on her sharpest if she was to succeed in protecting either of them. A false assumption over a gut feeling would only hinder her ability, it was not something she needed.
Despite finding nothing, Mari still couldn’t shake off the feeling of being watched. Perhaps it was just the aura of the asylum, the numerous monsters and corpses encountered had put her on edge already. She had become paranoid of this place, it was only reasonable. She couldn’t however, be irrational.
That was why the girl turned to the wall instead. The closest door was tightly shut, but Mari focused her ears to the sound of… crying? It had been so silent earlier, but she was sure that the sniffling was originating from the other side of the door. She turned to the woman with a simple order. ”Please, stay behind me.”
A few steps forward, and Mari kicked hard at the doors handle, swinging the door open slowly. The hinges creaked like screeching, opening to room as dark as the hall. The sniffling of crying loudened, Mari looked down to see a small child huddled in mound.
Mari knelt down, slowly reaching her arm out to the boy. ”It is alright… I will not harm you.” The large brown eyes stared back her, the child was thin, tattered clothes covered his tiny body, yet eventually a small hand reached out to her. ”Everything will be okay, I promise.” She grasped the small hand carefully, like that of doll’s, as if it would break at any moment, and led the small boy outside to the hall.
She led the boy’s hand to the woman who Razan had encountered. ”I shall ask you to please keep hold of him.” It was less of a question and more of a request. Practically as Mari herself could not hold onto the boy, and also so the two victims could comfort each other. Though the woman appeared confused at first, the sight of the young boy seemed to calm her down just slightly, accepting the responsibility or perhaps just the thought of the child brought the woman back to some senses.
With her discovery of the boy, Mari noticed that Razan’s fight with the no-eyed monster was over.
"I might be a civilian, but my parents taught me how to survive."
As with their first meeting, the so-named civilian referred to his parents. Even though they had been the ones to “kick him out of the house” they also ensured that he would be a man capable of handling himself. And while their teachings to him that shinobi were inherently wicked, they only had the best interests of their son at heart. Mari nodded to his statement, acknowledging his ability.
Of course the issue of being in this place had still be addressed. Mari had explained her reasons (while leaving out the tiny detail of originally forgetting which could be addressed later if an appropriate time came about), now it was time for Razan to explain his. He came over to her, sheathing his batons as he continued to speak.
"I was kidnapped…”
Mari listened to him intently, concerned over his first statement of being taken, but not generally surprised. Likely he was planned to be another victim to the plot of this place. After leaving Kumogakure, he had fallen for a trap the criminals used to lure such victims to their hands. Afterwards he was knocked unconscious and found himself here, specifically the very same room in which Mari had found the remains of a monster. Interesting the monster had spoken of a boss, and of wanting Razan alive. The latter Mari could only imagine what kind of horrors those despicable would put innocent through, the former however confirmed a master mind behind all of this.
”Care if I help you investigate this place? Maybe I can find out who exactly wanted to kidnap me?"
His offer for help wasn’t surprising given the circumstances, of course he would like to know the reasons as to why he would be kidnapped. It was his right to know. The girl nodded her head in agreement at once. ”I do believe it is wise if we assist each other, so that we may bring the criminals behind this swiftly to justice.” Raising her head once more, she motioned to the two others that they had run into. ”I believe it is also of paramount importance that we must find a safe exit for these other innocent, Razan-san.” Mari took it upon herself to find a way for safety for the sake of the two other civilians they had encountered to far, and if so more to come.
”We will not be able to exit the way I had come in, the ceiling had collapsed overhead from my first encounter with a monster. However, the entrance I had come through is likely not the only way inside. Perhaps another entrance, the one more in use of you kidnappers, for the side I had entered was boarded up and devoid of any signs of tampering. It likely is that this side is where all their activities take place and is more heavily guarded, along with that hypothetical exit.” Mari explained her thinking for an escape route. ”With amount of commotion we have caused already, it likely has brought much attention to us. It might even stir the interest of the boss of this place…” Mari’s eyes turned to man of russet hair, she was only telling her hypothesis, which she wasn’t sure could even be true. She wondered what he would think, or if he would be able to come up with some sort of plan.
1620/2615/6050 Total Words
Mari [5 EP ]
Team [ 12 EP]
1, 2
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Hokage: Kimura, Takao
Kazekage: Makato, Nova
Raikage: Vacant
Tsuchikage: Maikumaru
Mizukage: Miki, Fuyuko
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