Wandering Through Rain

Izumi looked into the sky, and let the drenching rain run down her body. Her clothes were getting soaked, and sticking to her body slightly, but she didnt care. Her affinity for water mader her so comfortable with water around that she acually prefered to have the water covering her body. The jug on her back was so heavy that most people wouldnt be able to even carry it, but she was so used to it now, that she didnt even notice it. Her sword hung at her side, and she flicked her hand over it quickly, enjoying the feel of the grip. The weapon that she had looked so long for was her's, and it had tasted blood recently. She found a group of bandits earlier and massacred them. Some people would think this heroic of her, but Izumi knew that she just wanted to draw some blood with her sword. It had been too long since she killed.

With this blood fresh on her mind, she felt at ease and allowed the pouring rain to envelop her. She continued to wander around until she found the gate to the rain village. There were some people hidden around the gate, but Izumi saw them. They were gathering intel for their village and possibly for their true master, the akatsuki. Izumi had been summoned to the rain village by her new aquaintance, the akatsuki leader. She hadnt gotten his name, but She was interested in his promise of blood, and someone worth killing. She was ready to kill somone again, even though she just killed an entire group of bandits.

The men hiding near the gate were still hiding when Izumi entered the village. SHe made her way through buildings while the rain continued to pour on the village, increasing the size of the already huge puddles growing in the road. Izumi didnt slow up for the puddles. She formed chakra on her feet, and just breezed over the puddles. She didnt quite know where she was going, but she could sense a chakra level in the village that revealed a ninja of great power. She knew he had to be the akatsuki leader. He was somwhere in the village and she continued making her way in the direction of the source.

“Ba ba ba ha ha ha! Singing in the rain! Dooo do dooo do doo.” The mysterious voice would sing from off in the distance with the same annoying lyrics repeating over and over like a broken record. His name was simply the Joker and he well….wasn’t all in the head. Not only were his clothes the strangest anyone had ever seen but his personality made the stupidest people in the world seem intelligent. His attire was that of a purple jacket with multiple leather belt straps across it like a mental patient and his legs were in the same manner but with black leather pants instead. His hat stood out the most though with the black crow’s feather appearing from the back. His face was also strange as it appeared he was wearing white makeup and a black tear coming down from his left eye. The ‘Joker’ as they called him was the deadliest clown known to the earth.

Not too long after he began to hum the same tune as he skipped and danced through the rain in a surprisingly graceful manner with a straw umbrella in one hand and a perfectly tied present that had green wrapping paper and purple bow wrapping on it. As he hopped and skipped from water to wall to lights he noticed a beautifully hold hearted woman walking toward him. He was guessing at her personality by simply looking at the woman’s blank face. He jumped down from the light and stood in front of the woman when she was only 5 feet away and running and he simply held the present up toward her and the umbrella over the present so it wouldn’t get wet.

“Smile doll! The leader sends his regards though I am ashamed to say he won’t be here for a while. So he left you this gift as a token of his sympathy.” The Joker said with a long happy grin across his face.

After what was a very blunt and smooth, though forced, conversation with 'Travis' he had to move on to other business. He usually had to drag people through the process of explaining and reaching an understanding between two people was a process all its own. A simple man, however, of simple pleasures is easy to both speak with sway; even if he didn't need swaying. It was somewhat obvious that the man had already made up his mind, but if he was so lax as say... joining an organization that would some day come to dominate this world, then would he be so quick to betray? It wasn't a matter he would have to worry about, or at least not now.

Here, he had sensed others that had wandered about, one of which he had already run into and the other was fresh to the rain country... they were a few miles away, where the rain had yet to subside, and instead of heading over and letting himself get wet, he waited until the water had passed over. By then, they had crawled steadily toward him, meaning that one of them had some sort of sensory capabilities of their own. But the rain had subsided, and for now, thats all he needed.

A portal of sorts was all he needed; parting the shadows under him and slowly sinking into the ground to a portal that was created only three miles from where he once stood, emerging from the ground a good 50meters to greet both individuals without suprise. Criminals, especially of the 'S' ranked variety were jumpy, and quick to lash out so it was always good to give them enough personal space and time to access a situation for good or bad. It was a grace period he was willing to work with. When he was within speaking distance he offered a few words as an ice breaker of sorts.

"Welcome to the land of Rain. I see Amegakure has already welcomed you?" He said, refering to the rain and their wet clothing. "And Joker, I'm glad you are here as well, how are things?"

The rained slowed to a slight drizzle, and right as Izumi looked up, it stopped all together. She was a little less comfortable with the rain not around her, but she knew if she stayed out in the water any longer she was risking getting sick. A smaller chakra, but still powerful, approached her from behind. He looked a little wierd to Izumi. He wore a purple coat, with leather straps all over the cloths under it. He seemed to be wearing makeup, but Izumi couldnt really tell under the umbrella, and really, couldnt care less what he was wearing. He made his way directly toward her. Izumi didnt really want to engauge in any conversation with the man, so she tried to ignore him. He was skipping and singing to himself as he made his way. Izumi couldnt have hated him more unless she knew him. Somone like him, she would have loved to slice into small peices or make the sky cry out his blood. She would restrain herself, however, because the leader of Akatsuki wouldnt like her killing people in his own city.

He finally reached her and held out a gift and covered it with the umbrella. Izumi didnt want to even acknowlege his existance, but he spoke to her. “Smile doll! The leader sends his regards though I am ashamed to say he won’t be here for a while. So he left you this gift as a token of his sympathy.” Izumi could feel the leader's chakra, so this idiot was lying to her face. This angered her even further, and it took all she had to keep from crushing him with her water on the spot. The water began to churn, but it stayed in her gourd. She looked at him for a second with her piercing glare then took the gift and threw it behind her. She took a step forward, and felt that the leader's chakra dissapeared. She stopped mid step and formed a handseal that helped her focus her mind's eye. She still couldnt feel his presence, but then, just as quickly as it had dissapeared, it reappeared a little in front of her. She could even see him from this range.

He appeared from a shadow on the ground 50 meters in front of Izumi. He walked quickly to within earshot, but he stayed a good enough distance as not to make anyone want to get hostile with each other. Izumi already decided he was smarter than the average person. Unlike the other "person" that had approached her and made her want to kill him, this man knew Izumi's nature, and she felt no agression toward him. Izumi smiled and walked forward a few steps to get a little farther away from the clown behind her. "Welcome to the land of Rain. I see Amegakure has already welcomed you? And Joker, I'm glad you are here as well, how are things?" Izumi held her hand to the side with her fingers facing back toward her. The water attracted to her hand and formed a small ball of which she tossed aside, leaving her completely dry. "" I assume you are the leader. Nice to finally meet you." Izumi gave a quick bow, shifting the weight of the gourd onto her back and standing back up, shifting it back to where it was originally. Izumi was ready for her first mission, and ready to see what kind of partner would be helping her with her murderous deeds.

“GAH! NO NO NO NO NO!” The Joker said running and diving after the present and just missing it with his right hand. The box landed in the water in front of the Joker as he laid flat on his stomach in front of the box as a result of missing the attempted catch. Joker looked up at the box just as the lid flew off and confetti came flying out in a surprising amount as it rained down on top of him. He gave a slight glimpse behind him and noticed the two of them much further away now. The Joker shrugged or attempted too from his spot laying in the soaked ground before he stood back up and kicked the empty present box. He thought to himself as he grabbed his umbrella again that had landed next to him. He opened it again and instantly began floating in the air only 2 feet or so off the ground and was quickly in front of the leader and the acquaintance.

“Boss! Things couldn't be any funnier! Back so soon?!” He said as he landed next to them and retracted the umbrella back into the can and began to lean against it as he looked at them both. Within a few seconds and acting like a child on sugar he snuck to the leaders side “Pssst boss there’s something wrong with her…there is something wrong with a killer that doesn’t smile after their kill.” He pretended to whisper though clearly audible. He then moved in front of the woman and took his fingers to either side of her mouth and attempted to physically make her smile, when he failed he backed off. Something was definitely odd about her, no emotions….it just wasn’t fun!

“I know! A magic trick! You’ll just love a magic trick!” The joker said holding his hand out and flicking his wrist making a playing card appear and characteristically it was the Joker card. “Now watch closely…” He said as the card began to float in mid air and in the center off all three of them. “Now I’m going to make it disappear….1….2…3!” He said and the card exploded in mid air with a loud controlled blast that came within 4 inches of each of their faces. ”Whoops! A little too much magic!” He said laughing as he took a bow after his trick.

A small, droll smile appeared upon Vice's face. It was something simply to humour the man, but at least his attitude was somewhat.. refreshing. It was boring to have all those with apathetic and dry emotionless feeling about himself all the time so at the very least, having a jester of sorts was interesting. He didn't plan on dealing with people of all the same personalities and in the case of this man, it was deffinantly an extreme... explosive powers, explosive personality.

The other, the femme he had requested, had shown up just about on time. He didn't normally keep track of time, considering in a place where the sun didn't appear time was nothing more then an opinion. After all, if the sun didn't move about in the sky, the concept of time would never have come to exist. Attempting to measure the rates in which things decay on such small scales as the rotation of the earth was to Vice, a foolish and naive process. But for as long as he would have to live in a world with time, he would have to somewhat adhere to its rules. Soon he would make it so that time itself didn't exist..

"Yes, I am back. It didn't take nearly as long as I had thought thankfully." He then turned his head with the slightest of angles, his eyes doing the majority of the moving as he took a second to copy a visual of the femme into his mind. By memorizing ones facial expression when they are at neutral, one can easily compare it to any other facial tick, and from it, make a conclusion, or at least a hypothesis as to their true thoughts or feelings. It was an essencial skill that he thought all ninja should have come knowledge of; when speaking at such range, it was difficult to get our of dodge of an ambush, and by taking note of ones facial expression, body language, etc., one could pick up clues of possible danger.

In this case, however, it was more of a lie detector test. Vice beleived that there was no being that was truly emotionless; that ones emotions were simply pushed aside and repressed, but as in any form of energy, it does infact present itself in other ways. To better understand an individual, he could better conversate with them; though he didn't expect any trouble, especially from this one, he made a habit of analysing on a person by person basis.

"Nice to meet you as well. I suppose beating around the bush isn't necessary so I'll get to the point for both our sakes.. I am Vice and I will be your 'leader'. I have a gift for both of you, but it is a gift in which you will have to earn. I'll be contacting you both soon on the details of a mission of sorts. Unfortunatly we have to clean up the mess of the previous chapter but I doubt it will be too long of a process, at least for you all."

He paused for a second before continuing. "In the mean time, enjoy your time here. Amegakure has alot of offer after all; get yourself acclimated to the streets and roads and... they can get tricky if you aren't formiliar with them." He said. He was about to include something about buying an umbrella, but decided not to as he was aware of her water affinity and him already... having an umbrella. " In any case, allow me to be the first... well, second, to welcome you to Amegakure."

Izumi didnt know much about clans, but she knew that the jutsu that the leader used was more than likely a clan jutsu. Shadows werent normally manipulated like the leader had done, and she had never seen the technique before. Her attention was distracted by the stupid clown again. He was just being annoying like he had started to be the entire time Izumi had known him. She looked at him again as he made his way to the leader and mock-whispered in his ear.“Pssst boss there’s something wrong with her…there is something wrong with a killer that doesn’t smile after their kill.” Her eyes, peirced the clown, but she didnt seem to have any emotion. Izumi lost her ability to feel anything than excitment and amusment long ago. She watched the clown as he thought he was being funny again. He attempted to come over to Izumi and touch her, but Izumi's water came out of the gourd on her back and successfully blocked him from getting any closer to her. Once he failed he decided to do somthing else to attract everyone's attention.

He prepared to do a magic trick. “I know! A magic trick! You’ll just love a magic trick!” The joker said holding his hand out and flicking his wrist making a playing card appear and characteristically it was the Joker card. “Now watch closely…” He said as the card began to float in mid air and in the center off all three of them. “Now I’m going to make it disappear….1….2…3!” He said and the card exploded in mid air with a loud controlled blast that came within 4 inches of each of their faces. ”Whoops! A little too much magic!” He said laughing as he took a bow after his trick. As the smoke cleared, it revealed Izumi's water had formed a large dome, protecting her from even the slightest of nicks from debree. Izumi stood and watched him, impassive.

"Nice to meet you as well. I suppose beating around the bush isn't necessary so I'll get to the point for both our sakes.. I am Vice and I will be your 'leader'. I have a gift for both of you, but it is a gift in which you will have to earn. I'll be contacting you both soon on the details of a mission of sorts. Unfortunatly we have to clean up the mess of the previous chapter but I doubt it will be too long of a process, at least for you all. In the mean time, enjoy your time here. Amegakure has alot of offer after all; get yourself acclimated to the streets and roads and... they can get tricky if you aren't formiliar with them." " the leader broke in and paused. " In any case, allow me to be the first... well, second, to welcome you to Amegakure." He finished. Izumi quickly bowed to teh leader and started to speak for herself. " Thank you for the welcome. Whenever you find me a... more suited partner, and you need me for a mission, send me a message. Im sure you have your sources." She turned and started to walk away, down the road to make herself familiar with the layout of their new headquarters. Just as she was about to get out of earshot she stopped and talked to them loud enough it was easily audible. " By the way, I do enjoy my killing... Its the only time I enjoy myself. Its 'Fun.' " she finished by flashing a devilish grin back at the two akatsuki members. She then dissapeared in a small shroud of mist, her prefered shunshin.

[exit topic]

“Awww boss you shouldn’t have. What is it?! A new kunai, a new sword, OH MY GOD A NEW SUIT?!” Joker said happily bouncing around the important man. Joker sighed softly until the woman was gona than he stood up straight and held his coat out slightly as if acting serious and proud of himself. “You see boss, while she was out murdering worthless bandits, ‘I’ brought ‘you’ a gift. I hope your familiar with a man in the bingo book known as Haeichi Kisai also known as The Miracle Healer that could bring back people from the dead. Well it so happens I lured him out of that little village and killed him not three miles from here.” Joker said as he reached into his coat and pulled out a Suna forehead protector and the dead blind man’s eye wrap he wore around his eyes.

“Sorry I didn’t pluck his eyes boss, they could have proved useful however his face didn’t exist when I was done with him.” He stated still quite proud of himself. As he leaned on the cane’d umbrella a bit with a smile. “Personally boss, I don’t think we’ll have a problem with her so long as we keep giving her people to kill. Me on the other hand, I like magic tricks, explosives, and strategizing. Believe it or not Mr. Main Man I’m not as insane as I let people to believe, I do everything for a reason. I got o her nerves for the simple reason of now she won’t want to be around me. So she won’t try and slit my throat in the middle of the night. Also while I was near Suna I heard some interesting rumors I would like to check out about some rebellious types that might join the cause.”

“Also, this is just my mind talking but shouldn’t we start to establish new bases as fallout bases in case for some reason anything should happen to the one here? Not only that but if we were to make planned attacks from different villages it would be nearly impossible to track for a while.” The Joker said with a slight side of brilliance and sometime within his speech he had slipped on a pair of nerdy glasses to make himself look even smarter.

Vice listen to the Joker intently then spoke himself, " Haeichi Kisai? I have heard of him, a healer at the mastery of his art, even though he was blind. Don't worry about salvaging anything... very few prizes wripped from the hand of man is worth weilding once again, and if they are I will be sure to address it in a more personal manner." The Joker continued to speak on his facade of 'insanity', something that was more then obvious to Vice, so instead of calling him out on it he seemingly offered him some advice,

"Hehe, well I'm well aware that you aren't insane, otherwise you wouldn't be here. We all have our ways of surviving... and perhaps her bloodthirst has it's own place in her survival just as your magic tricks do. As for those of suna, there are always more room in the shadows for those who are willing to accept. The shadows are unbias..." He said, but caught himself before he slipped into what was otherwise a continuous rant of the rules and regulations of the shadows that he believed to be true. So much so that he could relate and preach just about any subject to the nature of shadows.

" I suppose we were on the same page. In the near future, I do plan to have an underground organization in both Water and Grass countries... Grass Country provides a good central location, and Water Country would provide us an easier path to the shores of Fire and Lightning Countries, along with Kirigakure itself. Thanks to all of the unpopulated land in both regions.. it shouldn't be too difficult once the blue print is established; but I'm in no rush..."

"Look around you. This 'land' is like nothing any shinobi has ever experienced before. A jungle of metal and concrete weaved with a grid of electricity and wire. To fight here is a whole new battle for many; why, even with the 'modest' military this country supplies, it could hold several days of bombardment before being taken by force."

"Well...In closing, there are still a few errands of mine own that need to be run. Use this time to relax, have alittle fun even, though I doubt I have to tell YOU that."