InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Stuck in the middle with you"

fallen_ginta (fallen_ginta) wrote in fallen_leaves,
@ 2008-05-14 19:43:00

Entry tags:

ginta, ryouma

Running on Empty [closed to Ryouma & Ginta]
Backstory set approximately eight months after Pleased to Meet You, Won't You Guess My Name

October was, Ginta decided, even prettier in these mountains than spring. Maples flamed red on every hillside, punctuated with the gold of aspens, the deep greens of spruces and pines. He and his companion had traveled from Konoha for two days, careful to use only the code names they were assigned. Seishi for Ginta, Masashi for Rokusaburo. Ginta had teased him about how he should adopt the code name permanently, since it was so much cooler. Rokusaburo had responded with a grin and an offer to prove which of them was the pencil-necked genjutsu geek and which the cool man with an arsenal of taijutsu and weapons at his disposal. Cool men, he'd informed Ginta, did not need to worry about whether their names were cool.

It was a good partnership.

They'd worked together on one or two missions before, but this was the first time since Ginta had taken the series of jobs in the north, the missions where he became Seishi, that those missions had included a partner. It was good to know he'd have solid ANBU backup with him for this one. It was a deeper infiltration, into a secure military facility. Not the sort of mission you handed out to non-ANBU, no matter how good they were. Ginta carried sealed orders for himself and Rokusaburo, and another set for the men stationed at the Dainichi Nyorai Temple Post. It was a hidden bunker in the mountains, three hours' run from one of Kumogakure's largest military installations. A spy operation hidden beneath the ruins of a temple to the Dainichi Nyorai Buddha that had burned and been abandoned at least a hundred years before. The temple itself was slowly going back to the forest, with the still standing timbers covered in moss, the imposing stone Buddha and his attendant Myo-o demons softening with age, no longer inspiring worship so much as pity.

Beneath the temple was a sophisticated and modern military post. Small, true, but with monitoring equipment and facilities for ten ninja and a resident force of four. Ginta had been there three times already. He knew the men of Team Badass, as they liked to call themselves. He liked them, found them capable and solid. Good company before and after the mission, and reliable shinobi during it.

By the time they arrived at the hideout, night was falling, cooling the air at their elevation enough that a mist rose from the damp forest floor. Shadows were long, and the ruin of the temple an eerie sight in the gathering gloom. Ginta--Seishi now--nodded to Masashi. This was it, they were here. He checked his gear and threw three coins into the offering box, two real, one false and magnetized to open a hidden lock. There was a silent moment, a grating sound, and the stone face of Buddha swung aside. A familiar grinning face replaced it.

"Yo," Seishi said and tipped back his ANBU mask to reveal a black cloth one underneath. He held up a newspaper. "Did you hear? War's been declared. Someone killed the Raikage and they're blaming it on Konoha." He handed the newspaper to Ryouma with a grim smile under the clinging fabric, knowing the tall jounin's inability to read more than a few dozen kanji. Masashi tilted his head in obvious question, but Seishi waved him off, focusing on Ryouma. "So you letting us in or what? This is Masashi."

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fallen_ryouma
2008-05-15 02:47 am UTC (link)

Ryouma didn't even give the newspaper a flicker of a glance. He did spare an assessing eye for the man Seishi had named as Masashi. Big, brawny, not quite as tall as Ryouma, but probably fifteen kilos heavier. Short dark hair, and an expressionless rodent-faced mask. The inquisitive lilt of his head sort of undermined the impassive ANBU thing, though. Ryouma tipped his chin back in a jerky greeting. "Tousaki Ryouma. I'm base commander here."

Seishi had never been a threat--he was too short and far too spastic, and he seemed to prefer innocent comments and needle-edged suggestions to outright assumptions of authority. But Masashi carried himself with the easy confidence of a man used to giving orders and having them obeyed. The Dainichi Nyorai Temple Post had been Ryouma's home for going on four years now, his command for almost two. No fly-by-night ANBU was going to change that, no matter how cool their tattos were.

With the lines of authority established, though, he could afford to relax a little. At least enough to step back, beckoning the two ANBU in to the cool, dim, earth-walled tunnel that sloped sharply downward to the inner bunker door. "Good to hear the Hokage thinks well enough of us to send his own spooks as our paper-boys. You gonna tell the guys down in Camp Cholera next? 'Cause we've been watching 'em pretty closely, and they don't seem to have word of it yet either."

He slapped the newspaper against Seishi's bare, tattooed shoulder. "So how'd the paper find out before Kumo did?"

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fallen_ginta
2008-05-15 02:56 am UTC (link)

"Yep. That's our mission. Camp Cholera. Someone has to tell them to take their heads out of their asses," Seishi said, dancing away from the newspaper and Ryouma with an easy half-step that put Masashi between them. "And obviously you guys aren't doing it. I heard that's what really happened, actually. Raikage-sama got his head wedged so far in he suffocated on his own gas. Ugly death. Obviously they want to blame it on something other than a self-inflicted rim job gone wrong."

Masashi was used to Seishi and his tendency to run at the mouth. He strolled along at Ryouma's left, letting Seishi, who clearly knew the way, lead once they'd passed through the heavy doors to the bunker itself. Inside it had the cool, musty smell of all underground encampments. Earth and moisture and the scent of men living in close quarters. There was coffee, too, and something cooking.

"Our brief said you have a company of four stationed here," Masashi said. He pushed his mask back, revealing a square jaw and a dimpled chin that needed a shave.

"Oi, don't be a nosy prick, Masashi-kun," Seishi said, turning to look up at his companions. "Or you just trying to double check if what I told you was true. Don't trust me?"

"No further than I can throw you, " Masashi assured him.

Seishi looked up at Masashi, deprecatingly down at himself, and burst into laughter. "Guess that's pretty far then, huh? Good thing I have the trust of my teammates."