Tainted Love
Date: July 1st, 13 aNb
Days Until Stage 2 Ends: 5 Days, 45 Minutes
Time: 2:15 PM
Sho Inugami set down the case of Dragon Heart burn cream on a table loaded with medical supplies for last minute grabbing before those that passed the Written Exam passed through one of the forty-four gates in the chain link fence spaced roughly every kilometer-and-a-half around the Forest of Death for a five day, all-ninja-enter-no-ninja-leaves, survival marathon. The fifteen year old's mind was still grinding its gears trying to make sense of Motoko-sa's words about Aniki and the reaction it had triggered in him, but for all his logic and deductive reasoning capabilities, his actions outside the Academy were utterly unforgivable…
To anyone but his girlfriend. He knew Motoko Hata's heart nearly as well as his photographic memory had had her body thoroughly mapped out since that time she'd lost her towel after walking in on him in the security closet's Sento tub…
The medic-nin paused, mid-thought, anticipating Ohs making a lurid comment about good times, but - just as it had been before whatever changed in him on his fifteenth birthday that had allowed that perverted bastard to develop a personality - it was blessedly silent in his mind.
If he went to his Goddess of the Dawn right now, she would absolve him of the guilt and rage. Probably shower him with love and kisses and tenderness that sounded oh so good at the moment…
Silence continued to reign in his brain.
'No! No… Even if I didn't have this task to do,' Inugami thought to himself as he used his round-robin Flying Raijin tags to teleport himself from the 44th Training Grounds back to the supply depot to grab a crate of antiseptic balm and then return to the Forest of Death, setting it by his previously delivery. '...I don't DESERVE to be let off the hook so easily! I almost…'
He deliberately flexed the hand that he'd spent the better part of twenty minutes pounding into mush against the steel door of his parents' lab adjacent to the family home - the hand that Ohs' had intended to strike Motoko-sa with - feeling the unset bones snap, crackle and pop like breakfast cereal. It hurt a lot, but that was fine…
The pain felt like penance for the crime he'd nearly committed.
"Dude!" Hiro Jeitsy gasped as he barely managed to hit his target tag as Sho made another transit to grab another case; this one of gauze bandages. "Would you slow down; that's like your twentieth trip while the rest of us are barely on our third! You're going to make us…" He stopped, noticing Inugami's haunted look in his heterochromic gaze, the rapidly darkening bruising of his right hand, and the bright pink slap mark still marring the right side of his face for the first time in the fifty minutes since Inugami had finally arrived for the duty assignment; twenty three minutes late. "Holy shit, you look rough…" The failed Genin gave his peer a toothy grin. "Lover's spat? I didn't think Motoko-chan…"
Jeitsy's choice of honorifics after Hata's name, while appropriate, triggered Inugami. The crate fell from his grip as his broken hand wrapped itself around Hiro's throat. "You shut your damned mouth, Ohs!" He growled as red blood began to leak into the sclera of Inugami's emerald eyes. "You will NEVER see, hear, or talk to…"
"Sho..? Wind… pipe..?" The son of Kurando's second in command tried - and failed - to break through the older medic-nin's hysterical strength.
Inugami suddenly registered that he wasn't re-confronting Imaguni in his own headspace. "Shit! Sorry, Hiro…" He apologized as his hand snapped open.
"Not the… first time… you've… done that." Jeitsy wheezed as he activated his own mystical palm to repair his throat. "And knowing my luck… probably not the last." He rubbed his neck. "Damn, bro; who the hell is this Ohs' prick you were trying to throttle?"
"Long story. But I buried him alive and threw away the shovel; he'll never try to hurt Motoko-sa ever again!"
The younger medic shuddered. "Yeah, that tracks…" Sho raised an eyebrow. "Dude, your family's third rule. No one in Konoha is dumb enough to piss anyone in your family off; must be one of these out-of-towners… Just tell me where you buried him and I'll make sure he doesn't remember you and you don't end up facing murder charges if he suffocates."
A slight chuckle escaped Sho's lips. "I don't say this to you very often - less than you probably deserve, Jeitsy - but you can be a passingly decent friend when you're not laying odds on us doing or not doing something."
"Dude, whoever clocked you must have shaken something loose in that skull of yours." He slugged Sho in the shoulder. "Motoko's been good for you, but I don't think I can handle another Sho Inugami compliment without it shattering my world view."
"Well, you don't have to worry about a body… Ohs is the personification of my subconscious who took control of my body, was cruel to my Motoko-sa and nearly struck her, and got us slapped by Kimiko." Inugami said, having a stream of consciousness moment. "I buried it deep inside me as punishment."
Jeitsy rocked back on his feet. "My mind… He is blown…" He looked at Sho oddly. "Are you smelling burnt toast?"
"Hah, ha, funny man." Inugami growled, annoyed that his one true peer was playing off his admission as the effect of an aneurysm, as he picked the box he'd dropped back up as there was a stir from the arriving candidates. The medic-nin blinked. "Holy shit..! Hiro; I'm placing a bet!"
"Wait, what? You never place bets!"
"I know." He pointed. "1,000 Ryou each on Aniki's team and the three teams of the Rookie Nine. This has got to be a sign from Heavens when I needed one the most!"
Jeitsy jaw dropped. "No fucking way…" Sure enough, following immediately behind Anko Mitarashi was Naruto "Whiskers" Uzumaki and the rest of Team 7. A little further back the unofficial bookie of the Academy spotted Hinata Hyuuga of Team 8, Kabuto Yakushi, and the inseparable pair of Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, amongst a total of 27 teams worth of Genin! "It's a bet! We'll settle up after we're done here."
Inugami nodded as he resumed carrying his burden to the supplies table. As he did so, he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that he himself was being intently watched. He remained calm as he set the crate of supplies down before turning to look without being obvious about it.
That's when he saw them. The death glares of Akira Muto's three Genin. Inugami sighed to himself; he'd come to terms with the fact that he'd killed someone, even if it was someone as odious as the Phantasm of Rain, over the last two months.
'Great… I got Miho-sensei's warning about these three, but they clearly know who I actually am as opposed to the Keitaro Urashima that I was posing as in Mizumiyo… Looks like I'm going to have a chance to test my new trump card sooner than I ever expected; I'll have to remember to hide the necessary samples in my uwagi when I get home. Guess the physical aspect of my penance stops here…' He bit back a moan of pain as he used Yin Wound Destruction and the healing process forced his broken hand bones back into place, though he didn't heal Itou's slap. He owed Kimiko a favor that he wasn't sure how he'd ever repay. 'I doubt they'll try anything with Orochimaru's former apprentice here as the proctor, but better safe than sorry…'
"This is the location for the second phase of the Exam. They call it 'The Forest of Death.'" Anko Mitarashi announced to the 81 gathered candidates. "And soon enough you're gonna know why."
* * *
Time: 3:05 PM
Miho Hyuuga slumped in the Hyuuga Lord's chair after Motoko Hata's Lightning Clone dissipated; its message conveyed. She glanced at the desk clock; per the planned itinerary, the Second Stage would have started nearly half an hour ago. This was the second time in so many months that Kabuto Yakushi had popped up on her radar. The news about Sho's mental state was concerning as well, to be sure, but this was the second strike against Inugami's Aniki.
And with Hata's warning, the white-eyed Jonin was worried the third strike would be a death blow against a 12-to-13 year old.
Miho pushed a button and one of the Branch Family members entered the room. "Yes, Lady Miho?"
"Two things: I need the personnel file on a Konoha medic-nin by the name of Kabuto Yakushi. And I need someone to track down Kakashi-senpai - he might be at the Third War Cenotaph - and ask him to come in? If he asks, inform him we have a credible threat against his students." She ordered simply, getting a quick bow as the assistant ran off.
Sho's Jonin turned the office chair around to look in the direction of the Forest and activated her Byakugan. Her personal range topped out at roughly two kilometers. The 44th was on the other side of the Hokage Cliff, about 1500 meters from where Hyuuga sat, so she probably wouldn't be able to find Yakushi but…
There!
In the hands of one of the assistants was a file folder holding the liability waivers, signed by the candidates that passed the written test. It took her about 10 minutes, but she finally found the one with Kabuto's name on it.
'Okay; we've got five days to research the fuck out of Kabuto uniter… Wait, Sho?' Miho blinked, seeing her student packing up the medical supplies and delivering them to the outpost clinic being run by Tanaka's fiancée.
The Jonin did a quick seal sequence, sending a messenger clone to find Motoko and let her know Sho's location. Thinking about Hata's brain worm theory, Miho focused on the medic-nin's hippocampus as best she could from this distance…
Nothing.
Inugami's brain showed no stringer of negative energy the way Mizuzaki the 27th had while being affected by Muto's kinjutsu… But at this distance she could easily miss it; she had BARELY been able to spot it in Mizuzaki when she'd literally been on top of the Lord Daimyo.
Suddenly Inugami popped out of view. "Damn; he teleported away… Where'd you go, Sho..?" She asked aloud to herself as she tried to reacquire him.
* * *
Time: 3:46 PM
"I'm gonna beat that stupid genius brother of mine until he's a smart idiot!" Karin Inugami seethed as she hugged Motoko Hata tightly, allowing the swordswoman finally decompress in a way she hadn't been able to when she'd had to stop Sho's teammates from pursuing a course of action that would have undoubtedly, irrevocably, fractured Team 13's cohesion. "I mean, I GET that Kabuto means a lot to him; hell, all three of us wished him luck for the Exams this morning… He's as close to being Family than anyone not part of the family! But when your girlfriend says there's something wrong about your best friend, you don't flip out on her!"
"I've never seen Sho-sa act like that EVER!" Motoko insisted through tears. She was hurting inside in a way that she'd successfully hidden from Kimiko, but she was still honoring Sho's desire that his family not know the cracks in his psyche. His sisters being able to have faith that their older brother not only loved them but would move Heaven and Earth to protect them - even from himself - was a key part of Sho's identity following the Boar Incident. "I put on a brave face in front of Kimi and 'Hito, but Gods I wanted to crumple like a piece of rice paper…" Karin was smiling sadly, but smiling. "What?"
"You've picked up Saki-obaasan's habit from Nii-san." The copper haired girl whispered with a smile. Hata gave the other swordswoman a confused look. "Mom grew up in a Roshsyan religion that doesn't have a presence on this continent and the Inugami side, while we believe in the 8 million gods of Shintoism, we don't really venerate any of them in particular, but we acknowledge their existence and their effects on our lives and the world around us. That's why Sho's always saying Gods plural; Grandma did the same..." Inugami shook her head. "Even when you have every right to be pissed at Nii-san, to turn away from him like nearly everyone in your Academy year did after the Boar, but you keep doubling down on him, Motoko-nee."
"Well, my twin is a degenerate gambler that is constantly losing his bets. Meanwhile, every time I've bet on, put my faith in, Sho-sa - no matter what the odds - I've won." Hata chuckled despite herself. "I'm on a hot streak and I'm not about to give up on that now! I'm going to find whoever is messing with my Sho-sa… And WHEN I find them, I'm going to tie them down in a field of bamboo and let the plants teach them the error of their ways!"
"Damn, Motoko-nee… Not even one of us - yet - and you're already thinking of new ways of implementing the Third Rule; Saki-obaasan would have been proud!" The twelve year old's lips flattened into a tight line. "The big question is 'Why?'"
"Wrong question, Karin… I don't care about their motivation. I only care about two things: 'How?' and 'Who?' Once I string the bitch up, she is more than welcome to confess her reasoning then; for all the good it will do her!"
Karin Inugami sighed. "It's not that Amaya chick; you know that, right?"
"I do NOT 'know that.' She already tried to sink those manicured claws off hers into him once before. She'll try again! I know Sho-sa has that immunity thing, but you didn't see how she broke Akechi wa Jubei with just a touch!" Hata moaned, cupping her face in her hands. "I wounded her pride and she's a vindictive bitch!"
"Come with me…" Karin ordered, taking Motoko's arm. The world warped around them and the two swordswomen were suddenly in a small lab in a cubby that held four Flying Raijin tags.
Inugami stepped over to a computer and turned on its monitor. As the screen lit, the Academy student quickly typed in a command string, pulling up an array of twenty pheromone monitors. All of them showed a line that remained in an area marked with a mint green highlight. "See? No pheromone spikes since Nii-san and his team…" Her voice cut out as she turned to look at the senior kunoichi; tears began to fill her eyes.
"What? What is..?" Motoko turned and gasped, one hand covering her mouth.
Across the room was the heavy, steel, hermetically sealed, door that led in and out of the lab via mundane means.
A door covered with bloody fist prints.
Overlapping bloody prints.
Sho-sized bloody fist prints.
Karin grimly typed in another command string, pulling up the security camera feed for the lab and rewound it. She played the recording from the second Sho materialized in the lab at 12:18 PM, a pinkish slap mark on his face. The white haired teen didn't say a word - externally, at least - as he walked over to the door and began striking it over and over with his dominant hand. There was an audible CRUNCH as he broke bones with the first punch.
The eerie thing was, aside from the dull ringing from the hits and the injuries Sho sustained as he punished himself, there was absolute silence through the entire process. No screams of rage, no crying, not even a grunt of pain or exertion.
Motoko gingerly stepped to the door and touched one of the marks; the blood was sticky and Hata thought she could feel a slight dent in the metal. "Sho-sa…" She sobbed, imagining she could feel his pain even though he was still actively blocking her sense of him. She looked over to Karin. "How long did he..?"
Sho's sister fast-forwarded to the point that the medic-nin's watch began to beep stridently at 12:30… Still Inugami punished himself and the door.
12:35… Sho continued to paint the door with his own blood.
12:40… Sho's watch made a more strident beeping and the self-flagellation that had been going on for twenty-two minutes straight finally, blessedly, came to a stop.
The medic-nin glanced at his hand, as if he was both surprised and unsurprised to see the state it was in. He flexed his hand a few times before very briefly using his ambidextrous left hand's Mystical Palm technique on it to close the open splits in his knuckles and nothing more.
"Going to be late for my delivery assignment…" He muttered aloud as he opened a cabinet and grabbed something from inside before leaving.
Karin Inugami opened the cabinet. "Oh, crap…"
"What? What is it?!"
"Nii-san's extra Flying Raijin target tags are gone." The younger girl whispered grimly. "All twenty-four of them…" She sighed. "I have a feeling we're not going to see my brother until he's ready to be seen, Motoko-nee… It's like what he did after the Boar…"
Hata frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Sho disappeared for over a week afterwards. Mom and Dad went crazy looking for him, but all they'd find were traces of his movements, reports of him stopping by tea houses looking for Rakugan like Obaasan's, but - other than that - complete radio silence. And when he finally showed back up, after our parents tagged and cried over the whole thing; do you know what he said?" Another sigh escaped her lips at the memory as Motoko shook her head; she'd never heard this story before. "'Saki-obaasan told me to remind her on the 1st that we need to check the depots. She asked because Lucia needed so much of her attention she was forgetting to do things. I assumed that you said I didn't need to go to class for a few days she told you… I'm sorry it took so long.'" Karin shook her head. "He'd barely survived that pig on the second and assumed the two week leave he was on to process the trauma of it so he could do chores our grandmother was no longer around to do! He'd gone to each of the emergency supply depots and - by himself - had performed all the quarterly maintenance tasks in them… All-" Karin froze in realization. "All twenty-five of them! Sho had said that those tags were meant for the emergency depots now that he could handle more tags after all the Flying Raijin training he got in during the Mizumiyo mission!"
"But you said he only had twenty-four tags…" Hata said before hitting her forehead with the palm of her head. "Hello, Motoko! Your stupid twin brother broke the door on the depot near the 20th training zone!"
Karin nodded in agreement as she began typing in more commands, causing the nearby printer to fire up; spitting out a series of maps that showed zoomed-in sections of Konoha and precise instructions on how to access the emergency depots. "Dad hasn't had a chance what with the ramp-up for the Exams and all to check the alternate depot sites and figure out which one will have the longest viable lifespan. That's on his to-do list for the month-long break between the end of the Second Stage and the Finals." She took out the sites within the main part of the Village before handing the other twenty to her brother's girlfriend. "Lucia and I will check the in-town sites."
"I'll catch up with Sho-sa's team and get mine to help check these out." She flipped through them before shaking her head. "Gods, these are all over the place… Even at Sho-sa's top speed it would still take him four or five days just to get to all of these, to say nothing of completing the maintenance at them." Motoko looked at Karin. "He's deflecting, isn't he? Giving himself busy-work so he doesn't have to deal with what happened?"
"Despite all his brains and mental flexibility, Nii-san's a creature of habit. He couldn't process what happened with the boar, so he threw himself into Grandma's chores. He can't process this whole mess with you and Kabuto, so he's doing it again!" Sho's sister agreed as she pulled up Sho's task calendar that he ALWAYS kept updated so his family had some clue where he was or would be. "He's got a scheduling note that he's assigned to post-Second Stage triage starting at 11 AM five days from now, so even if we don't find him, we know where he'll be… Eventually."
Motoko folded the maps up and tucked them in her tool bag, shuddering as she looked at her boyfriend's blood on the door once again. "'Eventually' isn't good enough, Karin-nee; Sho-sa's drowning in his feelings and I'm not going to wait for him to 'wash ashore.'"
Karin shook her head with a sad smile. "Gods, I hope someday I'm lucky enough to find someone who loves me as much as you do my brother, Motoko-nee…" She grimaced. "One who can survive whatever mind game trial Nii-san comes up with to make sure they're 'worthy' of his younger sister."
"I'm working on him…" Motoko promised with a smile as she pulled the steel door open. "We've got time before you make Chuunin and can start dating per your Dad's rule; by then maybe I'll have your brother a little more civilized..?" Karin let out a gentle bark of laughter as Motoko ran off in pursuit of her missing boyfriend.
* * *
Time: 4:36 PM
Nakahito Haruno and Kimiko Itou had spent the better part of an hour and a half scouring the public areas of the three floors of the Konoha Hospital looking for their teammate, asking the staff and even the patients that were out of their rooms if they'd seen the white-haired teen. A few people on the first floor remembered seeing him come in, but they couldn't recall which way he'd been going. A few had said that his right hand had looked injured, but others said it was fine.
Finally, about a half hour ago, they were told to talk to Dr. Retsu, who was in charge of the hospital operations, as she would be able to determine if Inugami was in the main hospital or had entered the ultra-high security wing that led to the JRD, which was technically part of ANBU Command and controlled by Sho's own parents.
Itou was confident that Sho wasn't in the JRD; citing the fact that he didn't want his family to worry about his mental state.
"I still don't get why Sho would hide this from us!" Haruno grumbled, still mentally reeling from Motoko-chan's story, as he paced in the conference room they'd been placed in. "He was hard enough to deal with as it was and there's three of him in one skull now?!"
Itou looked at him placidly; she'd been using a breathing technique that the therapist-nin had been teaching her.
After the day she'd been having, it was the only thing keeping the water specialist level-headed.
"That's not what Motoko-chan said at all. One only functions when Sho's asleep while the other two are the Sho we know and the asshole I slapped." She dropped Inugami's broken sunglasses that she'd grabbed as they'd left the Academy on the table. The green lenses only existed in memory now and the frame was snapped in at least two places. "These are a lost cause… I wonder if Sho got a concussion from my hit and that's what snapped him out of it. What do you think, 'Hito?"
Haruno snorted. "I think you either need to go out and buy a lottery ticket or find Hiro-san and place a bet with long odds because since he stopped sandbagging I've landed exactly ONE clean hit on him and that was after he kissed you during the Yondaime's Gambit. You're officially the luckiest person I know at the moment."
"I'm serious."
"So am I!" Nakahito said, pacing harder. "I really hope Sakura is sticking close to her team in the Forest of Death. If even half the stories Sho told me about it are real…" He bit his thumb nervously. His cousin had told him the whole story of what she'd gone through with Uchiha and Uzumaki down in the Land of Waves the other day and he'd genuinely felt bad that he'd let Kimiko beat him like a dirty rug for teaching Sarutobi-kun the so-called "Sexy Jutsu."
Kimiko reached into the small refrigerator and pulled out a palm-sized bottle of water meant for those waiting to meet with the administration and chucked it at Nakahito's head; which he caught without thinking. "Your cousin was this year's top kunoichi and she's with the top student in our Academy year. The only person I'd be worried about is Naruto being, well, himself."
"Fair point." The fire specialist agreed as he twisted the cap off the water and drained half of it in a single gulp. "But back to Inugami, I thought we were a team! What, he doesn't trust us because we freaked out after he killed that pig?! We were 6 for God's sake!"
"Don't take what that 'Ohs' mind was saying at face value, 'Hito. It was clearly twisting everything into the worst interpretation of events." She sighed, helping herself to a water. "Ninjas, doctors, and the Inugami family specifically live and breathe secrets; Sho is at a disadvantage by being all three. He shares what he thinks people can handle when he thinks they can handle it. I mean he could have told me about the Mizugan or the reason those Cloud ninja Massacred my Clan at any time, but he waited until we were Genin and he'd seen how I was acting after several missions before telling me as part of our heart-to-heart."
Nakahito was silent as he finished off his water before tossing it in the container marked for recyclables. He opened his mouth to reply as the door slid open and a woman who appeared to be in her mid-to-late 40's. Her mostly black hair was parted in the middle to frame her face before being woven into a single thick braid that hung down to her waist. Streaks of silver were sparsely growing on several strands that turned black at different points between her shoulders and the upper curve of her bust.
"Sorry that took so long…" Dr. Retsu said as she slid the Genin's passports across the table to them. "Between the specific threat made against Kurando and Ana's son, the fact that there are foreign ninja in the Village, and the computers having their bi-monthly 'we're not working today' complications, it was harder than usual to get an identity verification. Especially since it doesn't really benefit you…" The two members of Team 13 looked confused. "Inugami-san WAS here to help ferry supplies to the 44th Training Ground and the medical outpost there - he arrived 12 minutes late, which is unusual for him - but he finished nearly an hour ago and left. I'm afraid he didn't share his plans for the day with my staff or I before he departed."
"Color us unsurprised." Haruno and Itou said in unison.
Dr. Retsu smiled. "Saki-sensei was the same way, ditto for Kurando; it's hereditary, apparently."
Kimiko rose from her chair. "Well, we won't keep you any longer, Sensei; Sho's got an hour's lead on us and it's pretty important that we find him ASAP."
"Have you tried his beacon?"
Sho's teammates frowned at each other. "What beacon?" Nakahito Haruno asked, confused.
"It's something Ana mentioned once, that she and Kurando had made emergency beacons for their kids." The hospital administrator shook her head. "I know they exist, but not more than that; sorry."
Itou smiled at the older woman as she and Haruno made their way out. "Every little bit helps; thanks, Dr. Retsu."
The two made their way out of the Hospital, pausing as they saw Team 11, sans their Jonin, waiting there.
"About fuckin' time." Raiden grumped. "Bad enough I have to waste my time looking for Inugami…"
"Yeah, well, you should learn not to make bets when you don't have money so your older sister doesn't have a dozen IOUs to cash in, Baka." Hashimoto pointed out without pity.
"Then why are you helping? Kyouran doesn't like Inugami any more than I do… And probably for the same reason; that anti-life aura that my senses detect when I'm too close!"
The panther cub growled. "So you sense the aura of a Lord of Death about him and his sisters, too?" Hashimoto translated.
The male Hata grimaced. 'Karin-chan has that aura, too? Shit, I guess I haven't been able to get close enough to her to pick it up!' He glanced at his twin. 'But it doesn't seem to bother Nee-chan; maybe it's something I could just get used to?'
Then he did a doubletake. "Did you just refer to it as 'Lord of Death'?! That is such a metal name for it!"
"We can't take credit for it." Hashimoto admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Tarnia Nakamura's fox, Bara, called Inugami's sisters by that name when we showed him a park by their family's compound so he could hunt fresh food."
Motoko stiffened. "That obnoxious bitch knows where my Sho-sa lives?!"
"Well, Tarnia and her Jonin know." Kyouran made a noise. "And Kyouran says that just as we moved out of hearing range, he heard the Jonin order Nakamura to not tell Amaya where the Inugami family lives. Not sure why; the Desert Rose threatened to have the Ambassador make a stink if we kept watching them."
By this point, the majority of Team 13's Genin were close enough to hear the female Hata's concern and Hashimoto's reply. "Well, at least we have that working to our advantage." Itou pointed out. "The Jonin is actively running interference."
Motoko nodded a glum acknowledgement.
"We missed Inugami by about an hour, Motoko-chan." Nakahito apologized. He paused. "Has Sho ever spoken about a beacon? The doctor we spoke to mentioned it, but didn't seem to know much."
The swordswoman nodded. "When I stopped by Sho-sa's place one morning when we were working on our gift for Kimi's birthday, he verified his sisters had their beacons before we left their house. But they're one way: triggering them sends an emergency alert to the JRD so Kurando-sensei or Ana-kaasan know one of their children needs them." She smiled wanly. "It was one of the first questions I asked Karin-nee when I went to see her."
Motoko reached into her tool pouch and pulled out the sheets Karin had printed for her, divvying them up between the five humans. "Karin and I suspect that Sho is falling back onto an old pattern of mindless work while he tries to process what I told him about Kabuto; apparently he did the same thing after losing his grandmother and dealing with the boar."
Hata reached into her tool pouch again to remove her throat microphone, which she quickly placed around her neck above the platinum bamboo necklace. The other four Genin did the same. "There's a total of 24 places he could be working; Sho's sisters are checking the ones in the main part of the Village, so we'll be hitting the more rural spots." She paused, before reaching into her top and pulling out one of her "round robin" target tags and passed it around. "Sho-sa is going to be installing these inside the emergency supply depots, so if you get into one and you see it, then Sho-sa MIGHT still be there."
"So, if I find him am I allowed to smack the stupid out of him?" Hata's twin asked. The other four humans and even the panther cub covered their faces. "What?! It's a fair question!"
Kyouran roared and his human partner translated with a grim chuckle. "Attacking a wounded predator in its own den is a sure way that you become the meal that allows it to heal."
"Plus Sho's brain isn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment, Rai. THIS Sho Inugami might not have the fact that hurting you hurts Motoko on the top of his mind and might not hold back." Kimiko Itou pointed out. "You attack him and Hiro Jeitsy's likely to lose his best repeat customer for his side gig."
"No trying to beat up my boyfriend or I swear to Takemikazuchi I will spill your secret to you-know-who!" His older sister explicitly stated with narrowed eyes.
"All right, all right; no need to invoke the name of my personal God…" Raiden countered raising his hands. Takemikazuchi was - among other things - both a Thunder God as well as one of martial arts, so Raiden had been a fan since a young age. "Jeez, I was just asking…"
"Put your radios to channel 4. Report when you reach a depot and then if you see any signs of Sho-sa." Motoko ordered, instinctively taking command the way Inugami typically would have. "Please try not to spook him; yes, I know he could not only easily evade or beat up all of us individually…"
"Try all of us at once, Motoko-chan." Nakahito Haruno grimaced, earning him a look even as Kimiko Itou nodded in agreement. "I've fought Sho a number times - both with and without Kimi's help - and all my senses tell me we've never gotten CLOSE to him taking the fights seriously. Miho-sensei could probably take him down if she had to, but it's never come to that."
She nodded, acknowledging his point. "Now, I can only actively track three target tags myself and my own range with Flying Raijin's only at about three kilometers at this point, so I can't give you tags so I can jump right to you if you find him, but I'll come as quickly as I can." She swallowed roughly as tears started. "Please… Help me?"
"No matter how long it takes." Kimiko agreed, squeezing her friend's hand. "Because I know if the situations were reversed, you and Sho would do the same for me."
"He saved Kanna's life." Haruno gave a wan smile at the painful memory of her near-fatal injuries. "I'll never be able to pay him back for that."
Kyouran roared and Hashimoto nodded, providing a translation. "His Pride has accepted you as one of their own and you're a part of ours. We cannot ignore the plight of a Pride cousin."
Everyone looked at Raiden.
"I'm being blackmailed. Of course I'm helping." Snorts of bemusement escaped everyone as Raiden hugged his twin. "I don't care for him, but having seen how he actually is with you, I can't imagine anyone else being as devoted to you as that annoying bastard, Nee-chan."
The other three joined into the hug while Kyouran jumped onto Hashimoto's shoulder and proceeded to lick her forehead. "A… Arigato… Minasan, arigato!"
* * *