The Tengu's Return

After his run in with the ice pirate, The tengu had decided that it was time for him to lay low. Arriving to an island he shed his mask to reveal Rai Vertigo. Now that he was away from the west he thought it would be good to rest in the north blue. Surely the marines wouldn't go hunting after him this far. Not only that considering the North Blue is considered the strongest blue, Triumphing here would definitely make his name be known far and wide. But first the Tengu needed something to eat. 

Rai was over the whole bar scene. It was too cliche and he had a feeling some dumb pirate was going to challenge him to a fight, so he decided to sit down at a sweet shop. At the sweet shop he ordered himself a crepe and began to look out of the window. As he peered towards the outside he began to start on his favorite hobby, People watching.

Miu sighed softly as she sat on the rooftop,she wasn't sure why she was here in the first place. The villagers always were angry or scared of her just because they thought she was a fox spirit who wanted to eat their childrens souls.

She looked over at her compaion and sighs once again "Momo Nee-san can we go back now? We can't even see the shop windows from here.."Momo, her panda fox companion just turned to look at the masked human with a "You will stay like a good pup" look in her eyes before turning back to look at the crowds of people below.

"Fineee.." Miu whined before turning back to also watch the crowds seeing a crowd of children run by playing "Sure looks like fun.." She says as she puts her chin in her hands

Chizu really stood out amongst the town people. Her favorite black and red furisode with the long sleeves wasn't the only reason, maybe it was the fact that more than half of the people steered clear of the young girl. Their reasoning for doing so? The former child model was very doll like, even when she wasn't acting. Even if she had wanted to approach the other children to see if they'd let her play, it was evident to Chizu that they would tell her no.

Suddenly Chizu stopped mid step in front of the candy store. A delectable array of sweets beckoned the young, though she was very aware of her lack of beli. Just to be sure, Chizu pulled out her little coin purse and counted the beli, only to find she probably wouldn't be able to buy any candy. Disappointed, Chizu moved on only to stop in front of the toy store neighboring the candy shop.

In the stores window was a simple teddy bear with a ribbon around its neck. I-it's adorable! she thought, steering clear of her least favorite word.

Rai remained in his chair eating his sweet delicious treat. It seemed that the town was quiet. Quaint one could even say. Yet this was before the Tengu would make his appearance. Rai continued to nibble on his pastry as he began to wonder how exactly was he going take the island. He had attempted many times before but to no avail. After finishing his pastry he decided that it was about time for him to take a little walk around town.

((Sorry such short post, just got off work and really tired))

Miu watched the crowds for a little wile longer before standing up and stretching. "Lets go somewhere else.." She says picking up Momo and put the panda fox around her neck like she often did like a scarf.

She walked along the rooftops unnoticed by the towns people,at lest until with a slight misstep she was sent tumbling off the roof and landed on top a stand in the marketplace. Luckily she was unharmed,but when she rose to dust off the flour that now covered her and fix her mask, she met the gaze of the stall owner. The women after a moment of shock let out a scream.

Miu very used to this by now took off running and dancing around many,they couldn't use their guns in such a big crowd like this. Every time she came close to a person they would move back in fear. "People can be so stupid.." She thought as she ran.

Chizu stood there for many minutes, just staring at the teddy bear. It looked so adorable and fluffy that it was hard for the young girl to pull herself away. Eventually she managed to do so, and walking away from the store, she felt a pang in her heart. She would have bought herself said teddy bear, if the beli she had weren't already set aside for a getting a decent meal later that day.

Once again wandering the town, Chizu's focus went to finding something adventurous to do, something she'd never done before. There were a lot of things the girl had never done before, just the other day in fact a fisherman had agreed to teach her how to fish. Chizu had found it really boring, but she'd learned something new.

A sudden scream caught, Chizu's attention, though she soon lost interest. A stall owner in the market had just been startled by someone. Nothing adventurous could stem from that.

As Rai walked through the town he heard a scream. What could it be? Could someone start be starting some trouble, and that person not be the Tengu? Rai couldn't have that. Holding his swords sheath he began to jog in the direction of the scream. Pushing past the crowd that was beginning to form he noticed that was no trouble, just a little girl in a mask.

Rai just sighed. It seemed there wasn't anything interesting in this. Though he was suspicious of why a little girl in a mask would cause so much commotion. Was she the daughter of a mob boss, a pirate, or a lawyer? All those were good reasons to stay away from her.

Rai just watched.

Miu stopped suddenly upon seeing herself surround by people. Then suddenly her head snaps forwards and she jumps back barely avoiding the sword aimed at her head. Steel meeting the cobblestone streets echoed in the air.

But instead of running from the fight Miu smiled under her mask and bows slightly to the man. The man seeing an opening rushed in his sword raised. Miu acted quickly bent backwards and just as he got close enough brought her feet up to meet his chin with enough force to sent him stumbling back slightly.

Upon righting herself she would tilt her head at him,as if to see if he was alright. Suddenly feeling Momo shift on her neck she quickly had to dodge as another man rushed towards her.Two against one not very fair odds. She started to dance around them now.She was literally doing Ballet around them,every time they got close her leg would kick out to hit them in the knees or stomach.

Then suddenly she started to pirouette in place spinning faster and faster,the men both aimed to attack her at the same time but were stopped suddenly when a flame was seen moments before a twisting inferno surrounded the girl.

"Looks like they didn't like my dancing.." Miu thought frowning.

After the initial scream, Chizu had turned, but she showed little interest and had turned away. That's when she heard the sounds of a fight breaking out. Chizu spun on her heel and trotted over to watch. Chizu was fascinated by the girl's dancing, and then the swirling fire. The young girl had ended up standing next to a strange guy with long red braided hair. Chizu paid no attention to the guy though, more focused on the dancing girl with a mask.

It's so pretty... Chizu thought, wondering what the masked girl would do next.

((OK I'm confused on what exactly is going on.. who is attacking Miu))

(Random towns people)

Rai watch as what seemed to be the towns people fruitlessly attack the masked girl. She seemed to have some skill but Rai doubted she was any real threat to him. How could she be? Rai was the legendary pirate of the West Blue. So rather than be impressed by the girl's dancing fighting style he was more interested in the townspeople.

"How can these people be so incompetent." he wondered out loud. Some of the townsfolk gave him a look of disbelief when he said that. "Well you wouldn't be saying that if you knew what she did." One of the townsfolk retorted. Rai was about to start laughing at the villager until he noticed fire appear around the masked girl that Rai had now dubbed Fox face.

Not only that he noticed that she was dangerously close to him. Deciding he didn't want to be noticed yet before he'd throw the island into chaos. He quietly move back into the crowd to avoid getting burned. Though he had a feeling that if he got dragged into the middle of fox face's fight again he would have to put on the mask and if he did, the town would burn.

Once the fire put a fair amount of distance between Miu and the two men,Miu found they were not getting more serious striking quicker making it harder and harder for her to react.

It wasn't until she narrowly dodges one of the blades feeling the tip of it graze her mask. At this she would jump up high finding that now would be the best time to end this game before her or someone else got seriously hurt.

She upon seeing an opening rushed towards one of the men and dropped sliding beneath him,but not before slamming a foot into the mans family jewels making him drop to the ground in pain.

Feeling she had her fun for now she decided to leave the other attacker alone and instead raced over to a high stack of creates jumping onto them as she raced up the the rooftops.

Chizu watched the girl with the mask leap on the crates, still quite fascinated. Once the girl was gone however, Chizu's expression, which had shown off her fascination, fell back to her normal expressionless face.

Turning, the young girl started to walk away from the scene. Back to wandering the town it was. Hopefully she'd run into that other girl. Maybe that guy too, he'd said that people from the North Blue were incompetent. Chizu would have kicked him in the shin or something, but she'd decided not to, her attention on the masked girl.

(( Rai didn't call people from North Blue incompetent... he called the guys attacking the girl incompetent))

In moments Fox face was gone. Rai watched as she would take to the roof tops. He couldn't help but frown seeing her escape that way. For a short a moment anyone who looked at Rai would freeze in fear. Once he realized the crowds reaction his innocent smile returned. Rai would have enjoyed to see how she would have dealt with the attackers.

After he was sure that Fox Face had vacated the premise he strolled up to the man who had been kicked in the tender loin. With his arm outstretched he helped the man back to his feet. With a smile he asked the man who exactly was the masked child.

The man hesitated for a second before explaining that Fox face was some sort of evil Spirit. He also explained that it would only bring destruction unless it was killed. Rai nodded his head, he planned on letting the man talk as long as necessary. As far as Rai was concerned that was complete bull. He wasn't going to say that yet, he just silently listened.

The man would go on to explain that every month since the town had been made only a year ago,a child had been found dead in or at the edge of the forest but no signs of mauling from any possible predators. They strangely had no injuries that could be seen but still they had died.

It wasn't long after that more children were being found and the fox spirit had been seen at night in the village and at the forest edge. "Its angry about the village being built,and so it preys on our child stealing and eating their souls...but for it to show up in the middle of the day.." 


Meanwhile was once again walking atop the rooftops and sighed "I wish I didn't have to fight everyone.." She says petting Momo "Why does everyone hate me?" She says before deciding it would be best to head home "Need to fix my mask anyways.." She says dropping down once again into a street but this one empty of villagers.

Chizu wandered until her feet grew tired, at that time she conveniently found a bench to sit on. Sitting there to rest her feet, Chizu soon grew bored, as resting wasn't very adventurous. She she took out her sling shot. Chizu gazed around for a target, but didn't see any good ones.

Sighing, Chizu put the sling shot away, and tried to think of things she could do. Chizu had already explored the town, so that was a no. The children all avoided her and Chizu was to shy to approach them, so that was a no. Shopping was out of the question, she had no idea if she'd be recognized or not if she entered any type of clothing store. Having been a child model for most of her life until now, it was highly possible.

Rai continued to listen to the man talk, still didn't sound like a viable explanation. Rai wasn't the most spiritual man, yet he could tell when someone was dumb enough to believe in such trivial things. If it was an angry spirit it wouldn't have wasted its time fighting weaklings like the villagers, it would have wiped out the town completely. He decided to get some more information before deciding how he was going to proceed. 

"So why haven't you vacated the town, if you believe it is being haunted by a spirit?" he asked slightly grinning.

It was obvious that Rai wasn't taking what the man said seriously. How could he? People died all the time due to sickness, eating something they weren't suppose to, or just random heart attacks. The fact that they were children was irrelevant to Rai, he'd seen plenty of children kill and be killed during his time on earth so he wasn't exactly shaken up by the man's story.

"Many of us have nowhere was to go...Many of us spent our life's savings just to build what we have here..." He says as a slight anger vein appears on his head. "We have tried to get rid of it even called in mercenaries,  priest and priestess  offering to pay what we could should they succeed...but no one has yet."


Meanwhile Miu went to round a corner only to back out of view at the sight before her. On the nearby bench sat a girl only a few years older then herself. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but the only way she could get home was this street. Of course she could try and find another way but that could take time she didn't want to waste. 

She couldn't climb back up to the rooftops there was nothing to climb back up on. What could she do? If she was seen the girl might scream and call unwanted people and with such a thin street someone very might get badly hurt if she was forced to fight. 

Unfortunately when she had stepped back to hide she had knocked a trash can making it fall over with a crash. She flinched as the crashing echoed loudly down the street.

Chizu had begun to space off when she heard a clattering sound from nearby. The black haired girl leapt to her feet and looked around. The noise seemed to have come from around the corner there, so she went to investigate.

Chizu trotted down the street, and turned the corner to find the girl who had been in the fight early. For several moments, Chizu just stood there staring at Miu. She had wanted to see the masked girl again, wanting to know how she'd created the fire. Chizu hadn't expected to see her so soon.

"It's you! The masked girl!" Chizu exclaimed.

Rai decided what he was going to do now that he knew how the villagers see that girl. It was problematic for the fact that it would make it things hard for Rai if he wanted to make a huge move. This was due to the fact the idiotic villagers would blame it on the girl. So Rai had to come up with a plan, walking away from the man he began to look for the masked girl.

He needed to find her fast. If not he would have no choice but to let her take the blame for what he had planned for the town.

Miu couldn't help but be a bit shocked as the girl seemed almost excited to see her,no one had ever been not afraid of her except that one time...But that was a long time ago..

Miu blinked behind her mask and was a bit taken back by this girl. She was used to screams of fear,anger and people trying to kill her in some way. So she stepped back a bit before trying to move around the girl timidly when Momo uncurled herself from Miu's neck slightly to stare up at the girl giving out a soft yelp of hello.

Chizu watched Miu back away, then start going around her. Chizu wanted to say something, but her shyness was acting up. She needed some sort of opening to say something, anything. Chizu didn't want the girl to just run away. She wanted to know how the fire had shown up when the girl spun.

The thing around Miu's neck gave Chizu that opening. "What's that?" she asked pointing to Momo.

As Rai walked through the town he slowly began to place the Tengu mask on his face. Once the mask was attached to his face his walk transformed. It started to be a sprint and then to a full out run. He began to run through the town in search of the masked fox. The Tengu's eyes would scan throughout the town in order to locate this person.

Miu blinked and took Momo off her neck and held her up for the strange girl to see. "Momo Nee-San" She said softly as the large white and black panda fox stared and sniffed the space between the strange girl and itself.

While it did so Miu took in the look of the strange girl before her,she had never seen her before and she wasn't running away in fear...so maybe she wasn't from around here? Where ever she was from she was pretty,like those china dolls she sometimes saw in the shop windows. She had a strange need to reach out and touch the girl to see if she was real.