InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Eating oranges is cannibalism!"

Ueno Katsuko (fallen_katsuko) wrote in fallen_leaves,
@ 2009-10-28 18:03:00

Current mood:	sleepy
Entry tags:	haruichi, katsuko

Reconaissance and Recovery [Haruichi, Katsuko]
Takes place directly after Celestial Navigation.

With Haruichi tracking, it'd taken them a scant half-hour to locate the fortress. By that time the moon had come out, throwing their shadows into sharp relief on the blank white desert. Eerie quiet reigned as they closed in on their destination, with not even the soft whisper of booted feet upon the sand to give their presence away.

Katsuko kept her eyes trained on Haruichi’s back as she ran, trusting the Hyuuga to lead the way. The byakugan and his encyclopedic knowledge of the stars made him more of an expert on this bit than her; all she had to do was focus on providing backup. She skimmed her fingers over the hilt of her mother’s katana, double-wrapped and oiled with balm to protect against the harsh desert winds. The mission brief had said to expect heavy resistance. She’d be ready.

The Intel bastard had been half-right: the bunker was near a cliff, and a godsdamned mountain range. It’d be pushing it to call it the ‘Cliff of Sorrows’, though. Looked more like the ‘Sad Little Half Hill’. The bunker itself almost dwarfed the cliff, its builders having added onto the original design since Konoha had obtained the floor plan. It clung to the side of the mountain like a parasitic mass; obviously, the architects thought that normal geometric designs were for weaklings. The bunker itself was divided into round little ‘pods’, similar to the structure of Sunagakure. Bridges manned by hidden guardsmen connected each ‘pod’ to each other, leaving Katsuko with the impression of a giant insect nest glued to the side of the mountain. Mountain range and attached bunker were located in the deepest part of a desert valley, shielded by genjutsu that had taken all of Katsuko’s and Haruichi’s skill to see through.

Now both Konoha ANBU were crouched behind a stand of boulders on the lip of the valley mouth, looking down on the slumbering bunker below. Katsuko raised an eyebrow at the size of the thing. Rather more than two ANBU could handle.

Good thing she’d brought extra explosive tags.

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fallen_haruichi
2009-10-28 10:25 pm UTC (link)

Darkness had fallen clear and deep into the shadows that clung to the mountain, and to the fortress that clung there, too. Luckily Hyuuga vision didn't require light in the conventional sense, and Haruichi had been spending the past few minutes using his byakugan to scan the ghoulish place for any sign of their objective.

It was proving impossible. The accidental and alarming layout of the architecture meant even somebody as practiced and skilled with the byakugan as Haruichi was becoming lost in the uneven maze of tunnels, split-levels and staircases that sprawled within the fortress and dug into the cliff. Add to that the presence of nearly a hundred humans, and the smattering of rooms so crammed with electrical, organic and chakra-sourced energy that all Haruichi got when he looked at them was spots dancing in his eyes, it was clear they were going to have to do this the pleblian way.

He drew back his vision, closing his eyes and feeling his temples squeeze as his veins shrank back down. Beside him, Katsuko's strong and jarring chakra had been causing a sort of haze-distortion and it was a relief to lessen it. He glanced to her, saw her sign a plan, and shook his head.

There was no way to pinpoint exactly where the young heir was. This wasn't going to be easy.