| Marked for Life [closed to Haruichi & Genma] | [Apr. 25th, 2008|02:58 pm] |
Every now and again life throws you a bone. Genma got this particular one in the form of an anonymous message from someone in Arakaki Hisoka's office that one Hyuuga Haruichi was on the list for induction. It was a time-honored ANBU tradition--part hazing, part ceremony--that new agents were brought in for their official induction into ANBU by senior agents. When the time came for a new ANBU field agent to receive his tattoo and mask, to get his armor from the quartermaster and swear his oath before the Hokage, a senior ANBU--Hunter for a new Hunter, Intel for a new Intel--would be sent to the home of the rookie to escort him in.
Now technically Haruichi wasn't a rookie, seeing as he'd served as ANBU's in-house medic for several years already. But he was a brand new field agent, officially a Hunter-Medic. He'd never been tattooed before, never been issued a mask or uniform, because he'd never left the building. He'd been, like the chuunin who manned the mission desk, the Intel data analysts, the other non-combat staff, ancillary. Unmarked.
Not anymore.
When Genma found out Haruichi was on the list, he said a silent thank you to his anonymous tipster and wondered who it could have been, and leapt at the chance to be Haruichi's official ANBU oniisan. Thus it was that at 0330 he was up and showering, preparing as if for a mission. He dressed in meticulously cleaned uniform and armor, buckled on polished, razor-edged weaponry and oiled leather belts and holsters, slipped his smiling cougar mask over his face and his hooded black cloak around his body. By 0400 he was out the door and in the street, feeling the cold air freeze the hairs in his nose even with his mask in place, and heading for the shabby section of town where Haruichi kept an apartment.
He wasn't too surprised it wasn't anywhere near the Hyuuga compound, knowing the bitter history between Haruichi and his clan. It was a run-down building, but right in the center of town. A tall one with commanding views, and Haruichi's apartment was on the topmost floor. A slight vexation to Genma, who was busily scaling the wall to the dusty twelfth-story window. Peering inside he saw not one, but two human-shaped lumps under the quilts on a traditional futon on the floor in a tiny bedroom no bigger than a closet. That was a surprise. Haruichi had a lover? Evidently so. Well, Genma thought, as he let himself in through the window, that would definitely give him and Haruichi something to talk about.
Genma'd masked his presence with genjutsu, which gave him the advantage when he was in the room and realized there was a dog there. Big dog, sleeping right across the bedroom doorway. He certainly didn't need a dog bite to start this day off. He let the genjutsu drop gently, by degrees, revealing his presence as if he were materializing from the air itself. The dog looked up at him, whined and then went to stand near one of the sleeping forms, not growling, but clearly defensive.
"Hyuuga Haruichi," Genma said, quietly, voice slightly-flattened by the mask over his face. "Your Hokage has need of you." |
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