The Shikado Requiem

[GoldenKitten]

Far past the town border, across the rolling hills and into the tall forest that followed a pristine silence enveloped the land. Though a small road through the massive trees showed that it was far from unmarked by humans it was still as close as the general populace would probably ever get to an untouched wilderness. A few of these sorts of places still dotted the country scape, hiding rural villages and ancient shrines that still practiced traditions and morals that dated back decades or even centuries in a few government sanctioned areas. However this area known as Shikado was visited even less than most, where others were along the beaten path the Shikado precinct diverged from the main paved road and could be found almost twenty miles down a single lane dirt stretch and so it remained almost completely untouched. Not today though as the growl of an engine could be heard and moments later a bright purple van came careening over one of the hills in the long twisty dirt road. It was an average vehicle though it seemed to be pretty old despite its good upkeep, it sported bright orange letters on it's side that read “N.A.P.S” and as it got a good grip on the road it went sailing down another huge hill and twist, this was one horribly curvy road. There were at least six people crammed in this vehicle all of them wearing bright purple working clothes that matched the van and even had the little logo that was sported on the side of the van as well.

“WHY THE HELL ARE WE DOING THIS WAY OUT HERE?!!!!” a young blond man sitting in the very back seat of the vehicle yelled out over some sort of operatic chant that was playing on the CD player.

“WELL USSUALLY WE DON'T BOTHER WITH STUFF THIS FAR OUT...” a older man with black hair and a distinctively wrinkled face yelled back, took a breath and then continued “...BUT OVER FOURTY PEOPLE HAVE DISAPPEARED OVER THE PAST MONTH!!! PRIEST, VISITORS...SHIT SERA TURN THAT SHIT DOWN!!!!”

The young girl who was hunkered over the steering wheel hugging on to it like it was her lifeline as she took another sharp turn just shot him a dirty look. Seeing that she was in another one of her moods the other older gentlemen riding shotgun who just looked like your average gray haired, balding old guy reached forward and turned off the music. From Seras reaction it was obvious that must have been her concentration music as she shot another dirty look without saying anything but nobody made a comment and the black haired man continued from before.

“Ya, ya, you just go back to staring angrily at the road alright?” he said in an obviously joking tone, she paid him now mind “So as I was saying all sorts of people, even a few children and some of the police that were sent to investigate. Their out there even now and confused as hell. With that many people disappearing its gone beyond something normal and it's not something we can ignore any longer if it is posing that much of a threat to humans.”

“Oh...” the original speaker said in a tone that said he wished he hadn't asked.

“So the cops are calling in paranormal investigators now?” the last man who was rather short but otherwise sported average oriental features spoke up.

“Ya, their baffled, several groups have been called in...after one of the last investigators disappeared themselves the cops were ready to close the place off, still this village is run by an ooollld standard, these people are near zealots...they would never give up their village and shrine and be forced to live in a modern place...” the one who seemed to have all the answers responded.

“Idiots.” the shorter boy said.

“Hey, hey lets not get judgmental...you wouldn't easily let go of your way of life either.” the young man in the back spoke again “But what about the kid, he's never done this act with us before, if the shit hits the fan can I toss him back to gain a few seconds?”

“No you can't...plus your almost as young as him. But has anyone given him the rundown?”

“Awwwww. But na, he knows the basics but they just sort of tossed him in...guess their getting hard up on missions to give us eh?” he smiled and then looked at the last boy in car, the Quincy who was also sporting the same clothing as the rest of them “Yo, Daijiro right? Well you know the basics but with how their getting all iffy I would say we must be getting close so let me give you the act. As I am sure you've figured out we are acting like we are one of those technobabble paranormal investigative units to get in on the situation we just went on about...we do this sometimes when the cops lock a situation down to civies.” He pointed to himself “I am Jonathan, I play the role of camera guy.”

He pointed forward to the two older men and went from the black haired man to the older one “Thats Haruka, he ask the questions, Keirim in front of him acts as a historian and psychic.” the older man in front turned around and acknowledged Daijiro with a nod for a the first time.

“The little guy next to you, Mori, plays the tech part...because well hes a nerd.” The little oriental man who was indeed fiddling with some sort of electronic box at the moment broke off long enough to give Jonathan a sharp look and a mild nod to Daijiro.

“And finally I believe you've already met our resident phobic little girl who plays the part of modernized spiritual priestess...or medium...or something like that.” Sera as always was more interested in not running off the road than acknowledging anything was being said about her despite the fact that they were currently on a straight away.

“Annnnnd youuuuu...” he reached below where he was sitting in the back and hefted something, moments later several black boxes went spilling into the center of the van as the occupants dodged and they hit the ground with heavy slams.

“JONATHAN!!!!” Haruka started.

“Will be our luggage boy...” Jonathan shot a mischievous grin at Daijiro before settling back against the wall of the van again, giggling to himself.

Haruka sighed and then played it off, “Well there you have it...just play the part and they don't ask questions, usually by the time the police get desperate enough to call paranormal investigators in even they can't explain things anymore and will be willing to accept whatever bull you feed them. Just don't forget to keep your wits about you because paranormal or not there IS something happening out her...OH!” Haruka moved to the side of the van to look out the window.

The van rolled up to the top of a tall hill, the tallest in the area so much so that it overlooked the trees for a brief moment and after driving all day the village finally played out below them. It was tucked into a valley and surrounded by trees though the larger portion of houses was set on cleared ground. It was...large to say the least, there were enough houses to fit easily several hundred people, a few of them were even the classic style giant clan houses and at the far end there was what was presumably the lead house, the large tower in the center suggested that in classic fashion the main clan housed the town shrine inside. Sera set the van in park and they all just sort of stared for a moment, a few people could be seen walking around though it didn't seem like near enough for the number of houses, a few of them turned their heads up and spotted the van but then just went on casually with their business.

“Jeez Keirim, when you researched the place you didn't tell us it was this big...” Sera commented for the first time.

“Well honestly I knew it was of a decent size...but it's just kind of been forgotten for about 30 years except by folk historians until these disappearances started happening...its um...grown....allot.” The older man responded.

“THERE ARE THIS MANY FREAKS LIVING IN THE PAST?!” Mori yelped.

“Oh hush, this could be cool!” Jonathan piped in, the first one sounding positive about this new turn of events.

Sera started up again and the van proceeded down a steep incline and a sudden dangerous turn before the dirt road put them out in front of the village. Outside, before a wall and a large torii style entrance to the village (the large shrine gates) were some very out of place cars, the majority of which seemed to be law enforcement vehicles though a few had the markings of other investigative units and there was one unmarked group that looked like it was VERY well funded. It was obvious that even though cars probably could go in the village nobody wanted them there so after a little bickering about what they should do Sera found a spot under a nearby tree and they parked. After shuffling around for a moment and preparing their boxes of equipment so they looked legit they all began disembarking from the vehicle and letting out long stretching groans as they complained about being cramped for so long. As Sera wandered to the front of the vehicle she looked over at the entrance not to far away, it was so old school it was a bit freaky, you almost expected people with stakes to start jumping out and sacrificing you to appease some god. It was at this moment she spotted a little girl dressed in a traditional outdoors kimono standing at the entrance of the village who stared at her, she stared back for a good long while, there was nothing wrong with the girl but there was an odd sensation...one she almost considered familiar, eventually the girl ran off back into the village.

“Odd...” was all she said.

“What?” Haruka said as he walked forward carrying a briefcase and sporting reporter glasses.

“I think that little girl had spirit energy...like us.”

“What littl...eh whatever, doesn't make a difference to us...we just get rid of whatevers here...though your right there is something about this place, and its not just the atmosphere either.”

They just sort of nodded and then turned back to the van as some clunking was heard. Jonathan came out a moment later and set about ten of the giant black boxes that had fallen to the floor so heavily before out before them. Haruka just smiled while Keireim showed up and waved to someone behind them, they all turned to find a police officer approaching them. He waved back and started speaking to them in a friendly enough voice.

“Hey there, little Miru told me someone else had arrived. You must be that last investigative unit they contacted huh? A little young some of you huh?”

“Don't let looks fool you lad, everyone here has been doing this since they were born. I'm Keireim.” The older man stuck his hand out and the officer shook it.

“Oh yes, yes sorry forgot my manners. I'm Officer Yakimora, I tell you I hope you guys fare better than the others, we had ANOTHER disappearance last night...if it continues like this we wont be able to continue, were going to have to evacuate them. But, I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, I should answer any of your questions like the chief told me to do.”

“Well we have reviewed most of the situation, why don't you take us to see the chief first.” Haruka began.

“I want to go to the place where the person disappeared last night...” Sera said, she had a way of being heard despite being quiet and everyone looked at her for a moment.

“Thats not a bad idea either.” Keireim chimed in.

“Well both spots are relatively close, I can take you to the chief first and show her to the spot of the incident as well.” Yakimora said.

They all gave agreeing nods and the officer turned around walking off, the rest of them in tow. Sera looked skyward as they walked beneath the giant gate into what was practically a whole other world, where they were immediately greeted by feudal housing on the other side and an ominous silence though Sera was sure she caught glimpses of people peeking out of their doorways and windows, she also got the same feeling as when she spotted the young girl. Back at the van Jonathan had kept Daijiro from following them by grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around, he grinned and pointed at the boxes.

“Don't forget your job luggage boy!”

He practically pranced off after the rest of them with a large camera over his shoulder, it was obvious this must have been the shit end of the stick job wise and it didn't take a genius to figure that till Daijiro showed up this must have been Jonathans part.

[Zhiel]

Only about fifty meters away from the parked cars was a large square tent, about ten meters from corner to corner that was black in color with small amounts of gray here and there, if one went close to investigate they would notice the fabric it was made off was extremely sturdy and could probably even take most generic bullets, which meant it was very expensive. That fact was even more pronounced by the two large black outfitted men standing guard by the entrance. They had no visible weapons but they were still quite an intimidating sight.

Inside mentioned tent was a table large enough for atleast eight people to sit by it with more than a foot inbetween each others, and god knows how they got it there in the first place. Around the table a group of people, four in number was sitting in the kind of chairs you took with you on campings or during outdoor activities, and while three of these four were natives to Japan one was obviously European, he was tall compared to most Japanese men, roughly 180 centimeters in height and seemed to be prety well built, although the black coat he wore covered most of his body, reason for this would be obvious if one looked under it as he wore what appeared to be a dark grey full-body-suit under it, it was however covered by the coat.

The European man, known to some as Richard Mallory drew his fingers through his dark blonde hair, it was cut short and had a bit of gel applied to it so it stood up in a semi-spiky manner. "What do you mean you havent found ANYTHING yet!?" He suddenly yelled out at one of the people inside the tent in fluent japanese as he slammed his right hand down at the table while staring straight at the japanese man with his cold saphire blue eyes. The man, a midle-aged native that was more than a foot shorter than Richard looked like if he was trying to hide from Richards stare, he was just about to respond when Richard interupted. "I cant believe this... First we go to this backwater village, then Jager runs off somewhere and now, after four days, we havent found anything... The morons living here is avoiding to answer our questions, and our radar system is knocked out like if there was some kind of EMP field in the area..." After finishing with the ranting Richard sat back down in his chair while a loud sigh escaped him.

"Well, sir, we have atleast found that several of the towns innocupants possess a rather abnormal level of spirit power, I wouldent be surprised if that is the reason some people are disappearing. As you know those white masked beasts target such humans." Said another person by the table, he was dressed in a outfit similiar to that of the two guards outside the tent, but he did not seem to be a body-guard or anything of the like. "Yes, I am aware of that, but we should have been able to pick up something from another disappearance happened yesterday, yet there was not even a single clue for us to go by." Richard responded, the tent fell silent for a while until Richard took out what appeared to be a cellphone from one of his coats pockets and flipped it open. "Scout, have you managed to get any form of readings from the area yet?" After a few seconds an image showed up on the cellphones small screen, showing a japanese man that seemed to be around Richards age, though it was still hard to make out any actual features from the cellphone. "No Richard, still nothing. Its like there is a large dampening field over the village whole village, however there seems to be an unusual concentration of spirit power in the area." the man, codenamed Scout said before pausing as he seemingly turned to look at something off screen. "Hmm... It seems your about to get company. Theres what seems to be a group of high-spirit power people traveling in car-class speed towards the village, estimated arrival is seven minutes. I will keep trying to get readings out of the area, Scout out."

Richard leaned back in the chair as he stroked his well shaved chin thoughtfully 'Another group here to investigate? Very interesting, and to top it al off they seem to have spirit power... Maybe if I make use of them this can move forward after all.' A slight smirk grew on Richards lips for a second as he turned to one of the three others in the room. "Go and keep your eyes on that new group that will be arriving here soon, make sure they dont spot you and if they do just pretend your asking questions to the villagers." The man Richard had given the order too was on his way out of the tent in just a moment. "Now then..." Richard said once again as he leaned over the table with his hands togheter in a classic evil overlord way.

[ZR0 C00L]

Me and my big mouth Daijiro thought to himself as the van zig zagged it's way through the dirt road approaching the groups intended location. The eager Quincy had been nagging his superiors to send him on more missions seeing as how his life revolved around training for battles that never seemed to come his way. Daijiro had recently become more vocal about mission distribution. In response the higher-ups had informed him that there was a disturbance in the Shikado district and that he would be accompanying five of us comrades. Thinking it must be something big for a whole team to be sent rather than a pair Daijiro quickly agreed and was out the door towards the already assembled team forgoing any explanation in his haste.

when he met up with the team however, Daijiro was unimpressed by the mission parameters, it was not his style to go around under the auspices of being anything other than the noble Quincy he was. But for fear of not being assigned to many missions after this one. the boy swallowed his pride for the moment and hopped in. There were a few familiar faces on the team, none he knew by name really just people who would pass by the training rooms while he was in there. To the boy this was quite natural, although he had been in the brotherhood for two years he had gotten to know precious few of his comrades. A fact he was hoping would change but wouldn't bother him if it did not.

His dislike for the purple uniform aside, Daijiro thought that the whole "paranormal investigators" act was a bit over the top. In his mind it would've been simpler to just sneak in in the cover of night and dispatch of whatever was making the villagers disappear quickly and quietly. But, orders were orders and the boy had no intentions of disobeying.

As the group neared the village, one of the group explained all the details of the mission to him including what everyones job was, as luck would have it. Daijiro seemed to be getting the shitty end of the stick here as well. He was used to this and said nothing the entire ride and gave slight nods when he needed to respond. After having his foot nearly crushed beneath some of the boxes he was informed were to be carried by him, the young archer nearly let his inward groan become an outward one. But the fact that he was already slated to do the "bitch" work, meant that Daijiro had some proving to do to his teammates in order to gain their respect, and unlike some who would talk about being someone worthy of being acknowledged he was a firm believer in the fact that actions spoke louder than words.

Taking in the vastness of the village, Daijiro had to admit he was impressed by it. It reminded him of a simpler time where things much slower paced than the world he lived in. As the group got out of their van, all of them were thankful to be free of the cramped space. Being that he was a Quincy, Daijiro could feel the presence of a few people with reiatsu scattered through the town. Unable to focus on this for too long however. The group was met by a police officer who was pleasant enough aside from belittling the group's age, namely his own most likely before telling them about a new disappearance and then heading towards the spot of the aforementioned disappearance. Daijiro began heading with the group thinking he was in the clear, however the man who called himself jonathan decided to rain on his parade, he placed on a hand on Daijiro's shoulder with a grin on his face then pointed toward that which he had hoped would remain unnoticed.

“Don't forget your job luggage boy!” he said pointing to the boxes the boy had conveniently forgot.

Looking at it all, Daijiro was as confounded by the mechanics of lifting so many heavy boxes as he was amused by the thought of seeing someone do it. Sadly, the joke was on him as he was the one to carry them. bending low, he lifted the tall stack which reached over his face and began the tricky act of walking without being able to see where he was going. Cursing himself for badgering the higher-ups as much as he was Jonathan for being so damn happy about it. He began making his way........slowly towards the groups destination.

[GoldenKitten]

Sera was pacing slowly through the main street of the village as she trailed slightly behind Keireim and Haruka who were walking alongside, and talking with Officer Yakimora. She scanned the houses and it didn't even take a spirit sensitive person like herself to feel the eyes cast on the group from just about every house here even if nobody was immediately obvious. Both of the older men had given her a bit of a backward warning glance as if they were not entirely certain what to expect here but Sera had simply shook her head pacifying their worry, of the group she was the best at sensing energy and instead of sensing one giant mass of energy as they likely did she could feel their sources. This was one odd village, she had yet to see anyone but she could feel quite clearly that every person her senses had picked up was a spirit sensitive adept. She no longer had to question what was going on here, this was certainly paranormal and almost certainly a hollow was the cause of the disappearances with such a gathering of energy...but why weren't these people doing anything about it and if none were trained in such purging why had they not found a person powerful enough to do so? But maybe she was getting ahead of herself, time had taught her that being an adept did not mean a person even knew about the spirit realm and she had no proof...but the eyes on her back told her the truth, she had no doubt these people had sensed their power and that was why they were being studied...she felt it in her gut.

“WHAT'CHA THINKIN BOUT ALL SERIOUS LIKE SERA?!!!” Mori grasped her should and as she jolted forward for a moment he was very lucky he hadn't ended up with a broken arm.

Sera just gave the older man who though small was still probably over fifteen years her senior. She had never liked him, he was loud, complained a lot, didn't take his work seriously and many other pet peeves of hers but what annoyed her the most was that he was...or better put was trying to be a cradle robber (it probably didn't help that being a short, pudgy little man he was about as physically desirable as a pig). The moment Sera had joined in their little game the first day several years ago Mori had already been trying to make not so subtle advances every ten minutes. He had never been as bad ever since she gave him a bloody nose after he pushed to hard once and he was certainly more wary of her actions but to Seras great disdain it was still apparent he had yet to get the full point. Still she no longer worried about him and usually just ignored most of his actions and gave him curt little snippets when they did have to talk. However in this case to her delight she saw he did flinch for a moment when his touch caused her to jump. She shot him a glassed over glance for a moment before continuing to walk forward and gave a explanatory monotone.

“Lots of spirit force...can't you feel it? It doesn't matter...just be nice to everyone, I don't want trouble here.”

“HEY I'M NEVER TROUBLE!!!”

He was cut off however when Sera picked up the pace to catch up with those ahead obviously ignoring him. He piddled for a moment and then moved forward to keep up, Jonathan had run up behind him shortly after slapping him on the back and giving him an obviously mocking giggle at the older mans actions before rushing off to catch up with the rest. The officer reached a large house, it appeared that at one point it had been one of the larger non-clan houses but the outside suggested it had gone unused for a generation or so. Still when Yakimora opened the door and one could glimpse the bright inside it was obvious it was in no way dilapidated, just old. The four followed directly after the officer trailed shortly by Mori who Keireim instructed to stand by the door so Daijiro would know where to go which he did begrudgingly.

“Whose this?” an old but warm voice sounded out.

Upon entering the house they found themselves in a wide open entry way, there were sliding doors on every side suggesting this place used to be segmented into rooms. Now however all the doors were open, on one side there were several officers and a makeshift radio system and lab had been set up, on the other side there were countless sleeping bags all over the floor, some electronics suggested a few of the paranormal teams might be staying her as well. Farther in the back there seemed to be several more rooms and from the looks of it that had been where all the old furniture had been slid to clear this one large area in the front. A older gentleman who was in classic police chief wear and had short gray hair came forward.

“Sir, this is the final investigation group.” Yakimora clarified.

“Ah I see...a little late aren't you? Things have been getting worse...” The chief began.

The officers and the old guys as Sera liked to call Keireim and Haruka began to give a classic greeting conversation before getting down to the real info. Personally Sera was not paying much attention, she found she trusted her senses more than what a few cops thought was going on and was observing her surroundings for a moment. Her eyes set on the back room once more where all the furniture was and she stopped roaming as she set them on the same girl from before staring from around the corner, once more they just stared each other. Then the girls face broke into a smile and she waved at Sera, caught off guard she couldn't do much more than raise her hand a bit and give a cursory wave back. The girl seemed to be mouthing words and thats when Sera realized the girl wasn't the only one there, a young man who seemed to be of European descent clashing wildly with everyone else having white skin, bleach blond medium length messy hair and crystal blue eyes was poking his head around the corner as well just like a child. Sera was immediately struck by the fact that this mans spirit energy was wildly higher than anyone else's, maybe even her own. She now realized they were both talking to each other and then just as suddenly they disappeared around the corner once more, Sera didn't have time to go check though as she was addressed moments later.

“Hey, you wanted to go see the last scene right?” She turned her attention to Yakimora once more and after gathering her thoughts nodded.

The young officer headed out the door and with no time to consider the situation Sera hurried off after him leaving the old guys to talk it out. Seconds after exiting the door Sera spotted Daijiro arriving and Mori did too as he tried to silently follow after her and the officer now that his duty was done. Sera didn't give him the chance though as she turned around, gave him a harsh glance and pointed back toward the building. He probably didn't like it but he knew better than to cross her after a deathly stare like that and he just stopped where he was.

“Problem?” Yakimora said, she only realized he had seen that now and was looking quite bemused.

“Perverted old guy, what's new?” Sera said not really caring if Mori came off sounding bad.

“Wait a moment, are you even old enough...ummm...that came out wrong.” Sera only now took into consideration that Yakimora was probably only in his early twenties after that little stumble but didn't give it much thought.

“Nineteen, now where are we headed?” She responded trying to change the direction of the conversation.

“Oh, um, wo—er, the center of the village. The big central stage area. The saki house to the right there was where it happened.” He said pointing.

They had crossed a few hundred feet now and though she had seen it from above she could see now it was shaped like a perfect cross with two longer streets of houses to the left and right. For the first time there were people around, allot of people that looked just like average folk...average folk with spirit energy and while all were going about whatever daily task they had she could still feel them staring her down. She spotted a large building with lots of writing on a large wooden board and several paper lanterns hanging from it's edges and imagined that was there destination.

“So what do they think is doing this?” Sera broke the silence, which was quite eerie since with so many people around you would think there would be more noise.

“Well aside from you guys we are having to give it a realistic view, some crazy outsider whose hiding himself well or even someone hiding withing their populace god forbid...”Yakimora said, obvious that he had become a bit attached to the village and it's people despite their differences.

“That wasn't what I meant, I meant the villagers themselves.” Sera said blatantly.

“OH! Sorry, well it's classic stuff...say they are being spirited away. Though they are a bit more clear about it than I would like, they say that there are many white masked spirits that over the years have stolen living spirits and using that power fused into the white masked spirit of legend which brings an end to all...or something like that, their kind of vague about their beliefs when it comes to outsiders. Traditional apocalyptic fare I imagine though...or at least the villages demise.” Yakimora gave a bit of a chuckle at the end and Sera realized he had no faith that it was of a paranormal nature.

Sera just nodded, unable to really respond because now she was confirmed. Not only were these people sensitive but they knew about it, they knew the dangers and the dangers were Hollows. However it still didn't explain why nothing had been done about it, and why she felt no Hollows anywhere. She was brought out of her interior thoughts once more when a prickling sense ran up her back and she once again felt a powerful spirit source. Her head turned to the saki house and she saw several others did as well, after a few moments when a figure appeared in the doorway Yakimora let out a sound of recognition. A very good looking younger man with a long black ponytail and a distinguished face in royal purple robes exited the house and moments later was flanked by an older man who could only have been his father thanks to their close appearance who was likewise cloaked in brilliant white and gold clothes appearing to be priest robes, he sported a tall ribbed hat. Behind him there were at least six girls who were likely only two or three years older than Sera and all of whom looked related to the men and all who were sporting the same looped hairstyle and clothing of priestesses, the center one sporting the veil of the senior priestess. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was likely the primary clan of the village.

“The Yimikusa family, the leaders of the religious branch and so effectively the city.” Yakimora confirmed from in front he turned and walked toward them.

The youngest man held his hand up before Yakimora could get within ten strides though and he stopped. The Yimikusa man shook his head and tried to progress forward but the father, obviously sensing Yakimoras confusion spared some pity and explained.

“I am sorry officer. We have just purified this place in the name of Hakido for his sacrifice. We understand your investigation is important but please, let this place rest for the day.” he had the tone of someone who was kind but was used to being obeyed at the same time.

The youngest man seemed annoyed his father had broken their procession but being seeming to be the only one who didn't have the patience for outsiders he stayed silent.

“I understand. Sorry...” Yakimora said turning around and thumbing over toward Sera “Well...their house, their rules, tomorrow then? Anything else I can show you?”

Sera began to shake her head when she was struck with the obvious feeling of being watched again but this time it wasn't the feeling of just being studied with short glances but instead as if someone was staring straight through her. It didn't take very long for her to look around and notice that was just about everyone in the surrounding central area and as she followed their stares she realized that they were all staring at her zanpaktou which of course being invisible to normal humans had been strapped to her back the whole time. She was not entirely sure what the emotional vibes they were sending her right now were but she was aware that all of the priestesses were giving her looks that suggested they weren't happy and that both men were now approaching their position and within seconds were staring over Yakimora who finally noticed them and turned back around a bit taken back by their forwardness.

“Who are you?” The younger man said.

“She's here with the new investigation team.” Yakimora stated very matter-of-factly before she could respond.

“There are others?” The older man questioned.

“There are several.”

Before anyone could say anything else the youngest man took off toward the large shrine house about half a mile away and the priestesses moved as quickly as they could after him. The older man stayed, gave his sons actions a momentary glance and then turned back to Sera and spoke in a softer tone than before.

“I am Harazaki Yimikusa.” he offered.

“I am Raizuki Seiani...they call me Sera.” She returned before Yakimora could jump in out of habit as he had before. The officer was looking quite confused as of the moment.

“It's good that you have come.” Harazaki responded.

“I am just here to stop what's been happening.”

“I know...”

Suddenly Harazaki moved in very close to her over her shoulder. Normally Sera was easily disturbed by her personal space being violated but it happened quite suddenly and she felt no ill intent from the man's actions.

“I have one question, you are here that means four have arrived...” he whispered, Yakimora was a little to far away to hear clearly “You may not know our traditions, you are an outsider but you have the mark and so maybe you can understand my words. The soul purging archer and the spirit capturing hunter were to arrive with the sword wielding priestess...is that how it has come about?”

Sera was immediately aware of what he was saying and more than a little creeped out, how could they have predicted that? Daijiro was obviously the archer he spoke of, they had fought together before and though she had never fought alongside Jonathan she knew his spirit power allowed him to capture spirits. She stared a bit wide eyed at him and gave a slight nod and as quickly as he had approached her he bid her farewell and was walking briskly back off toward where his children had gone as if he was already on a mission. After a minute or two he could no longer be seen and Sera relaxed, now more than a little worried about what they might have just found themselves in the middle of.

“Well that was just odd...they never wanted to talk with one of the investigators before except that weird one the foreigner brought along. Heck I didn't even know the family heads name till he told you, so what did he want?” Yakimora began, obviously befuddled.

“Nothing...he just wanted to greet me.”

“Suuuuure.” he responded not sounding convinced in the least.

“Well if they don't want me in there...guess I will just wander and get a feel for the area. I don't want to take up any more of your time anyway.” Sera said, her tone suggesting in that way only a woman can without being bludgeoned by a police officer that she didn't want to talk about the encounter.

A long silence passed and then Yakimora nodded and turned back toward the house “Ya, sure, just don't go wandering into any houses uninvited, poor Shinji found that out the hard way our first day here...still has the welt to prove it.” he grinned over his shoulder as he left.

After he was far enough away Sera turned back around toward the large area before her, high above the son was lowering in the sky though not to evening levels yet...time was flying though. She let a long winded sigh out, people were still glancing her way but there was no more intense staring like before and after a while she began to wonder what the hell she had expected to do all by her lonesome anyway. Once she had considered it all she spotted a bench nearby and took a sit down, with no leads she figured she would just contemplate what had just transpired. Sitting with only the sound of a slight breeze and a few whispered conversations off in the distance to keep her company she closed her eyes and just sort of thought to herself.

[Zhiel]

OOC: Prety bad, but oh well.

While Richard was pretending to be the villain of a bad secret agent movie two of his subordinates were out doing something actualy usefull, the first of which was the japanese man who had been told to keep watch on the new investigation group that had recently arrived.

The mostly average sized man, called Eiji, was following the majority of the group around, keeping a good distance of almost fifty meters, he was dressed in casual clothes so he was not as easy to pick out as some of his other comrades that wore completely black outfits, but he still stood out somewhat, especialy with his rather thick looking sunglasses, however they were not just for looks, no they were a piece of rather advanced spirit technology that Richards company had secretly developed, it allowed the wearer to both see spirits and to measure spirit amounts, however it was not very precise so small amounts and very high amounts were hard for it to pick up, especialy when there was many signals around, as there were now, but by simply using the scanner Eiji could easily follow the group even when his natural view was blocked by a crowd of villagers, when the group split up however he decided to follow the larger group, but pressed a prety well disguised microphone on his left ear. "The group split up, one of them is heading with a officer towards the town center" Eiji said in english, although it was obvious he wasnt very good at it. "Roger that, I will get to it right away" came a response in just a second, after that Eiji just continued to follow the group from the Brotherhood.

Takamori Kaeshi, the black suited Japanese man that had been in the tent with Richard and Eiji was now crouching ontop of one of the larger buildings in the town square, even if one looked directly at his position he would be hard to notice unless one knew he was there, and even if his spirit power was prety decent he was skilled enough to know how to conceal it. After getting the message of the group splitting Kaeshi had been quick to move, it was important not to lose any opportunity to finish this buisness and get back to Tokyo, as more chaos could be happening during their abcense, but he had to trust Scout would keep it under control, afterall they had a prety well-armed and trained spirit fighting unit.

Kaeshi shock his head, this was no time to get lost in thought. He then pulled out a pair of binoculars from a bag he had brought with him from the tent and put what seemed to be a headset on. If one looked closer it was clear the binoculars was modern and high quality, they even seemed to have one of those sound catching mics', and that was confirmed as he aimed it towards the girl from the new group and the old man below.

He had caught the conversation at a good time it seemed, right as he got the mic configured for the short distance it was towards the scene he heard the end of the old mans name, after which the girl introduced herself. 'Wait, that sword on her back is.. spiritual... Raizuki Seiani.. I should let Scout check up on her later and see if we can find anything usefull...' Kaeshi thought as he sharpened the mic to hear the whispering of the old man. He missed the start, but he caught the rest of it. 'Very interesting indeed... It appears these fools have some kind of prophecy going on, I better report this to Mallory-Sama...' Kaeshi thought as he clicked on his headset. "Takamori reporting..."

After a few minutes Kaeshi had finished his report and easily climbed down from the building on the back-end where there was only a few villagers, who seemed to pay him no mind, or notice him, neither mattered, and after actualy getting down to ground level he walked around the house, and into the town center. Now seeing how Sera and the officer had separated ways he saw an opportunity to get close to her, and maybe get some more information. Kaeshi casually walked up to the bench where Sera was sitting, though he didnt want to piss her off so he kept a fair distance off about two meters away before addressing her.

"Hi there, I see your from the new group to come here. Mind if I sit down?" He said in a friendly manner, gesturing towards the bench. Waiting for a reply before continuing. "I'm Takamori Kaeshi, most people just call me Kae though. As we are all in this mess togheter I think we should try and help each others out, most of the groups here are either too secretive, or they just dont know anything. We are prety open about our discoveries, but I am afraid we havent found much either, just a few hints here and there, no real clues. How about you?"

[ZR0 C00L]

Daijiro slowly and awkwardly made the trek towards the teams temporary HQ. The overall weight and ungainliness of what he was carrying made it so that the boy walked at a snails pace. Seeing the others gaining distance from him, Daijiro sighed inwardly. From the beginning the boy had his reservations about the mission and now that he had a taste of what was to come in terms of treatment from his teammates this was shaping up to be one of his least favored mission assignments.

As he made his way further into town, Daijiro could see the form of the older man assigned to the team waiting outside a fair-sized house which he correctly assumed was to be the teams base of operations/ living quarters while on the job. Coming closer to the old man, the Quincy boy could see a look of dejected bitterness on his face. when said teammate noticed he was looking, he quickly changed his demeanor into a forced smile and walked a few paces to meet Daijiro just outside the doorway.

"Here, let me help you with those." He said as he grabbed the absolutely smallest box out of the stack the boy held and made his way inside.

Gee thanks! Daijiro thought to himself sarcastically.

As the boy followed Mori into the building and to the designated area for the equipment. Daijiro's only thought was of how he could crush the old man with the boxes he carried for his insincerity and make it look like an accident. Patience........ He told himself. Not actually intending to make good on his day dreams of bludgeoning his teammate, the thoughts just made him feel better.

"You can set those down right here." Mori informed him as he pointed to a cleared out space behind an opened sliding door.

After setting each and every box down and storing them behind the sliding door, Daijiro and Mori took a short break together. Daijiro from carrying such a heavy load. Mori from the over exertion of watching apparently. the old man looked to the boy and Daijiro returned his gaze. Daijiro couldn't say that he disliked the man, he didn't know him well enough yet to make a decision on that yet. But, his attitude towards work was not gaining him any favor in the boys eyes. His short break over, Daijiro stood up causing Mori to look to him again.

"And where are you going?" He asked.

"To catch up with Sera, she's not too far off." Daijiro replied, Mori stood up after hearing this and started making his way to follow the Quincy.

"Stop" Said the boy to his elder causing Mori to freeze on the spot due to the suddeness of Daijiro's order.

"What the hell f....." Mori replied somewhat belligerently before being cut off by his junior.

"Someone needs to stay with the equipment" Daijiro said quickly before turning on his heel and exiting the door quickly before Mori could follow. as he exited the building, he could hear Mori yelling at him.

"THEN YOU DO IT! NO WAY AM I STAYING HERE..........COOOME BACK!" Mori yelled in futility at the retreating form of Daijiro who simply increased his walking pace in response.

As he made his way through the town, using Sera's spirit pressure lead him to her location. Daijiro was more than aware of the townspeople staring at him. As odd as it was, he just acted as if he didn't notice at first hoping that they were just curious about him being an outsider, but this was not the case. In fact, it seemed that the more people he encountered the more pairs of eyes watching him. This made the boy feel a little uncomfortable, Daijiro was used to being looked through not at. It was true, he had never gotten this much attention before in his life, and he didn't like it. Turning on his heel, Daijiro stared back at a pair of boys hiding behind what looked to be a well staring at him without pause. Daijiro took a step towards them and before his foot fell, the boys were off and running towards a house whose door opened revealing a commonly dressed woman who bent down to hug her children and lifted her head to glare at him as if he had done something wrong before pulling them inside and slamming the door.

"Odd" the boy said to himself before turning around and making his way once again towards Sera.

This town was strange, Daijiro was hard pressed to think of a time when he had felt such latent spiritual pressure in. The only thing he could compare it to was a gathering of quincy's he attended as a child and even then since there weren't many of the energy archers who showed up was on a smaller scale. Daijiro couldn't understand what could be troubling a town like this, but then again he figured that most of the people here didnt know how to make use of their energies.

But then again........maybe whatevers here is that strong. He thought to himself before deciding that this wasn't the case and that his first assumption was more correct. When he finally caught sight of his teammate, she was seated on a bench conversing with a man in a black suit. Well he was speaking, the angle he was on made it impossible to see if she was responding. Not wanting to interrupt but at the same time not wanting to leave his teammate in an uncomfortable situation, Daijiro decided he would take his time walking up to the bench before making himself known.

[GoldenKitten]

No sooner had Sera begun to rest and contemplate the situation than she was besieged by a large man. She opened her eyes and took a good look at him, she could have sworn she had seen him somewhere though she wasn’t sure where, perhaps her eyes had glazed over him during their entrance. However he could pretend all he wanted, Sera was a naturally suspicious person but this man calling himself Kaeshi wreaked of false dictation and she was keenly aware that by appearing so soon after he must have been watching the situation before now. Regardless she had no reason to cause a ruckus and it wasn’t as if he could get something out of her anyway seeing as how protective she was of her knowledge, he could try working her over all day for all she cared. So when he requested if he could sit down she simply shrugged.

“Who am I to say where you may or may not sit?” there was no hostility in her tone but there was a veiled mistrust.

He sat down and tried to make with the pleasantries she just went back to staring into space though in some faraway style she was listening to what he said. She had no proof anything was wrong but even if the ill vibe that radiated from his actions was just a fabrication on her part his next words still marked him as a con-man, it was a common practice for the teams to try and get information from each other while returning as little info in return. She glanced out of the side of her eyes not really giving his presence confirmation but showing that she was hearing his blabber, she happened to spot Daijiro at this point. However after the man had finished she had begun plotting a response in her mind to see if she could shake this bad feeling, she decided if she saw him lockup she would know she was right and if he didn’t…well then she would just try to find another way to catch him off guard, such was her psyche. She worded what she said very carefully so that it refrained from implicating him in wrong doing but might also put him on edge if he had been doing more than just wandering by.

“We just got here. I know nothing, except of course what you just heard…you were listening weren’t you?”

She looked toward him and though her face was rather flat expression wise she wondered what his reaction would be.

[Zhiel]

While attempting to converse with Sera, Kaeshi was observing her facial expression. She appeared like she wasnt interested, or was not paying attention, though she gave a few hints to that she actualy heard what he said, wheter they were intentional or not was hard to tell, but from the way she had acted since he first introduced himself it seemed like she was distrustfull of him, not too odd he supposed.

“We just got here. I know nothing, except of course what you just heard…you were listening weren’t you?”

This caught Kaeshi slightly off guard, though he didnt show it, he was good at controlling his facial expression. He had to wonder, did she know wheter he had been watching her or was she just guessing? If she had felt his precense, which was the most likely, she should have been able to tell he was too far away to hear what they had been saying. He knew that pausing too long would make her even more suspicious, so he acted on his wits. "Oh, well I have to admit when I saw you togheter with the towns elder I got very curious, although I was too far away to hear anything other than your introductions, I'm sorry for eavesdropping but none of the villagers here has been overly glad to help us out, especialy not the elder." Kaeshi said in a acted half-nervous way, he didnt know how she would take it but he hoped she would think he was telling the truth, indeed he had been too far away to have heard what they said, if he didnt have his binoculars.

"Sorry, I wasnt aware of when you arrived. I just heard there was a new group that would come here today. Either way, that sword of yours is very interesting, and I'm sure my boss would like to inspect it himself, if you wouldent mind meeting with him of course. I'm sure he might have something to offer you that you would find interesting." Kaeshi said as he stood up from the bench, nodded in acknowledgement to Daijiro and then started walking away towards the tent, though stopping after a few meters and turning back around. "Oh yes, my boss tent is over this way if you feel like meeting with him, its a large black tent, you cant miss it."

[ZR0 C00L]

(ooc-ok really sorry guys, i know ive been ignoring my postings lately)

"Oh yes, my boss tent is over this way if you feel like meeting with him, its a large black tent, you cant miss it." the man stated after stopping his walk away from Sera.

Daijiro took it that they were finished and approached the bench. He did not sit on it, but came withing five feet of Sera and stood in front of her. He was wondering many things at this point. Questions about the oddity of the townspeople. Questions about the upcoming mission to which there really wasn't much intell., and questions about the man who had been talking to her. He decided he would go with the most recent of which, since it was the easiest conversation starter.

"What was that all about?" He questioned his team leader.

Daijiro went on to ask about the things he had witnessed in the city and the large amount of reiatsu he sensed from it's inhabitants. this place was weird to him. the sooner they finished the mission and were on their way out the better he thought. Being the center of attention was something he definetly wasn't used to and even now he could feel eyes on him.

"Everythings all packed up and the teams ready to go. Mori is watching the gear. If you plan on taking that guys offer and going to his tent,if you don't mind I will accompany you." The Quincy stated in earnest.

Anythings better than being stuck with those other guys. He added to himself. Awaiting for further instruction, Daijiro looked to the designated leader for his next move. But something was bothering him, more than just the townspeople there was something that wasn't right here and it was making the boy more uncomfortable by the minute.

[GoldenKitten]

Moved to Dead RP's.