Still Missing...

"Come on, follow me," said the little pick pocket boy. He had a shaved head and pocked skin, both alluding to probable recent trouble with bed bugs. Kannagi had been walking around on patrol, alone as usual, when she had caught his tiny hand sneaking into her shinobi pouch. Now she followed the boy called Lee through the alleys of the slums as he lead her along. "I hope you have only told to me the truth, young one. I haven't seen any sign of Ju-Di since I turned in the hair pin I discovered last week." Lee turned and gave her a crooked dirty toothed smile, "I might steal from ya but I'd never tell a lie! I saw Ju-Di just last night. None of the other ninja believed me!"

Kannagi's lips went into a tight line. This boy seemed up to something, but then might he not be telling the truth? There was a lot of information that went unshared in this part of the village and if someone had seen the little blonde girl then Kannagi owed it to the girl and her family to examine the possibility. The boy gave her a nod as he paused at the corner of the street, looking both ways although she saw nobody around. They had been on a back road and she could see this was where it intersected with the main road once more. "Have you been leading me around by the nose to avoid punishment for your attempted theft?" Kannagi asked deliberately with a scowl. She huffed and took a step forward, looking where he was looking. There on the other side of the building was a familiar face. "Sojiro?" She called to him.

The shaved-headed kid took a nervous step back, wringing his hands like he had been ensnared, catching her attention. "No, I'm not lying. Please, I need someone to believe me! For Ju-Di's sake. She was my friend." Kannagi turned her blue eyes back on the boy, still frowning. She had no idea what to believe. He had tried to steal, but that wasn't so uncommon. The kid looked like he was definitely concerned but she didn't know if it was for his own sake or Ju-Di's. "Do you mind lending me a hand, if you have the time?" She questioned Sojiro, knowing he had seen her. Whatever had brought him to the slums, Kannagi hoped it was less important than this.

At the sight of a man who appeared completely non-shinobi, little Lee took it as an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. The bald boy gave him a boy and turned his whole focus on Sojiro. "Well, hi! I'm Lee! I am the hero who knows where to find Ju-Di!" Kannagi brushed her forehead with a quick pinch of her fingers. The little rascal was really trying to work his charm on Sojiro. "I was hoping for just enough food to eat dinner but this lady wasn't even going to pay me at all!" Kannagi turned her blue eyes on the boy and frowned but Lee ignored the glare. He was starting to take his falsehoods too far and she stepped forward with a single hand upon the boy's shoulder.

"He volunteered that he saw Ju-Di yesterday after he was caught trying to pickpocket me. A strange yet fortunate coincidence for him," The blue haired woman explained to Sojiro with apparent ire in between her words. The kid could easily be lying, in fact he probably was. He was using the missing children as a way to ease up the trouble on his own head and wasting her time. She exhaled and shrugged at Sojiro, "You got the same report on the girl as I did, so I am obliged to follow this lead. Do you want to join us?" She hoped Sojiro would join them as together they would be more intimidating to the kid. If he was intimidating enough, Lee might even beg forgiveness and confess his lies so that she could get back to really patrolling the village. Still, Sojiro was clearly off duty and the kunoichi wasn't sure he would be interested in getting involved.

Total WC: 698

The bald kid took the money and saluted Sojiro ecstatically. Kannagi let out a short sigh and rolled her eyes. Damn off duty shinobi, he really was trying to just throw her under the cart for this kid. For this lying little kid. She watched as the little pick pocket shoved the ryo into his pants pocket, thrusting his hand into the depths and keeping it there as if to prevent anyone else from removing that ryo out but him. Lee touched his chin and then rubbed his neck with a nervous laugh. "Well, I.. I didn't see her exactly. I uh..." Kannagi closed her blue eyes and shook her head. "I'm leaving. I have real work to do." Her heart fell as a tiny bit of her had actually hoped that he was telling the truth so she could find the missing girl, or any of the missing kids for that matter. "You should be more careful, Lee."

The boy scowled up at her and stuck his tongue out petulantly and then quickly grabbed hold of Sojiro's sweatpants. "I think I heard her though. Honest! It sounded just like her the way she was cryin on. Sometimes I pick on her and so I know what that sounds like. There's an empty shed next to that ramen shop that closed down. I heard it from in there." Kannagi looked at him over her shoulder and then looked at Sojiro with pity. The kid confessed to lying and was trying to still look good by lying even more? Didn't he know when to stop? She addressed him again facing away from them both, "And why didn't you say so sooner? Why didn't you go in the shed and look?"

The kid looked shamed then, facing the ground silently. That caught the kunoichi's attention and she turned back around. It was hard for a boy to show real shame like that and make it believable if it weren't. "I was sort of scared. I heard other voices. Mean ones. They were telling Ju-Di to be quiet."

Kannagi paused in place as Lee gripped the ryo and scrambled through the alley where they had come from. His eagerness was that of a real child spending time doing something fun like attending a festival. His poverty made just a few coins illicit the response and it was a bit sad. The Irezumi didn't let others suffer. If another family struggled enough, they might call upon the family and exchange goods or work if able for assistance. Poverty didn't really exist as much as all of the family across the entire desert and plains lived mostly at the same low level or the same high level. The Sun should really be doing more to help people like Lee.

She walked over and followed Sojiro's lead in finishing the mission she had started. "I heard a couple were missing. I haven't heard of dozens." Kannagi had taken the lead seriously even though Lee had lied to her twice, but Sojiro's eyes made her realize this was much more troubling than one or two instances. "I'm guessing you have been investigating this for a while. What do we do?"

Sojiro's advice was against the norm for Kannagi. You follow a lead, you complete a mission, you discover something new, and then you tell the village. To follow each lead the way he had, to see the connections in the cases and wonder made Kannagi wary now. He couldn't really be right about this could he? Whatever was going on, there had to be some explanation that was going to return the kids to their families and leave the village's honor in tact. Her expression hardened as she followed behind her friend and boss. He kicked the door by the shed a few times until the boards came loose and opened up.

A smell of stale air and filth lay light in the air like a rumor in a taphouse. Kannagi saw Sojiro turn quickly away and leave. She ducked her head into the room and gasped, falling backwards and landing hard on the ground. Her blue eyes went wide with horror as it took in the sight. Simple beds, buckets, and no lights to be seen. It was a holding cell. A holding cell... for children. "Oh... Sojiro..." She whispered.