1 Do What You Have To [Private/Plot] Fri Sep 16, 2016 12:18 am
Gin
Retired
It was a testament to her boredom that Gin had decided that looking over old reports and paperwork was a good way to spend her time. During her time as Kazekage, it was the one thing she had truly despised. Well, that and the constant surveillance. Having the council breathing down her neck had never been fun. Both things reminded her of her current situation. Kumogakure guards were constantly watching her every move and had been for the past month. She was none too happy about that. It was for that very reason that she hadn't been able to leave the house much or at all since the conflict between Kirigakure and Kumogakure started. She had already run out of things to do in the Raikage Estate in the second week and chose very selective moments to sneak out under heavy disguise. Thus, she had to make do with whatever was available in the house.
Honestly, Gin couldn’t blame them. She was an important figure in Kirigakure – one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and the Mizukage’s close friend. In theory, she was an important bargaining chip. Little did they know that Ayakashi was far more likely to let Gin fend for herself than mount a rescue. It was just like the Mizukage to place politics and the so-called greater good above her personal feelings. Gin didn’t blame her. The other woman was also well aware of what Gin was capable of. She could have broken out of the palace on the first day and left a trail of corpses behind. That, or she could have just returned to Kiri after one of her few outings into the city. But as if that weren’t enough, for all they knew, she could be spying on them, relaying information back to her village. She wasn’t, of course, nor did she have any plans to make the situation worse.
Normally, she would have bothered Sanosuke until he offered her something to do. At the very least, his annoyance was entertaining. Nevertheless, he was much too busy and stressed to be bothered right now. His nation was on the verge of war and what happened next basically rested on his shoulders. She could very well imagine the kind of pressure he was under. For that reason, she had barely approached him during this entire fiasco. Outside of meals, they hardly interacted. He spent most of his time either outside in meetings or in his office. She was under the impression that he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in weeks.
That was why she currently found herself skimming through pages of old reports that had been deemed unimportant, shoved aside for someone other than the Raikage to take care of. On her lap was a small green cat in a pink onesie, swaying his tail side to side as Gin pet his small head.
“Kero wants to go out,” he mumbled softly, his voice sad, if not a little helpless. Gin understood the feeling.
“I know, buddy, but I already told you we can’t. It’ll just make things worse,”
“Not even the gardens?” He sounded like he was about to cry.
“You know how the guards get when we step outside. They nearly cut your tail off last time,” she reminded her cat, hands ghosting over an isolated report of raids in the outskirts of the village. It wasn’t the first one of its kind.
“Kero is sad,” the cat whined, as if it weren’t obvious already.
“You know Sanosuke’s working as hard as he can to fix this. He’ll do it soon,” she said. She had spoken those same words about a hundred times. Every time, Kero nodded sullenly. This was no exception. She picked him up and wrapped one arm around the small creature to try to comfort him.
They stayed that way for a couple of hours, with Gin scribbling notes on a separate page to keep track of what she had read so far. She pursed her lips as she looked at her own messy handwriting. She paused, pursing her lips. Maybe… No, it seemed like a stretch. However, in her boredom, why not entertain a couple of conspiracy theories? Nothing was likely to come of it, but it would distract her mind for a while. She grabbed another sheet of paper and began drawing lines between names and events. Before long, she was scribbling madly.
What was once a simple list of names became a list of complicated equations and account balances. She had to put Kero on the floor to get up and search for new sheets of information and old reports. This was taking up all of her concentration. She honestly felt like she was onto something.
The sun had already set when she compiled everything she needed. She stared at her results, scribbled over several pages that were now scattered across the ground. If she was right, someone was building a mercenary army large enough to topple the Daimyo – and it was all right under their noses. The question now was whether she should investigate this herself or tell Sanosuke about what might be potentially going on.