“What does your wife look like? What sort of herbs was she looking for? And do you know which path to the forest she took?” Kome asked a few questions, wanting to know who she was looking for and where to start - searching the forest at random would take too long.
The man nodded and described his wife. "She went in the direction of the stream, but I could not find her there." The man explained.
“Alright, thank you. That's a good start, so I have no further questions. I'll let you know if I find out anything.” Kome left the farmer to his work and headed for the stream as well, alert for any sign of danger, as well as any tracks the woman might have left.
Kome made her way to the place the man indicated. Slowly, she started looking over the area... Spoiler: Awareness 40 - success Soon, she found a piece of cloth on one of the bushes. Kome turned circled the area around a couple of times, until she found a trail... leading deeper into the forest...
This is going to suck, isn't it. Kome sighed as she saw where the trail was leading. Well, let's see where it will bring me... She followed the trail, alert for sign of danger and trying to be quiet so as to not give her presence away to any potential enemies.
Spoiler: awareness 47 - success As Kome followed the trail, she soon noticed something different... a presence. Then the smell... of sex. She slowly followed the trail and smell, further up the stream... Finally, she walked out into the open space - and found the woman she was looking for. The naked woman lied on the grass, her clothes gone. Her body was covered in sweat and jizz, it looked like she was fucked for days. Kome walked up to the laying woman and checked on her. She was alive but her eyes were... blank. Someone fucked her until her mind broke. Kome frowned. Usually, ninja did this to their enemies, but then they indoctrinated them to change their loyalty... In this case, the process was done halfway... if it was it.
Looks like someone - or something – had their way with her. No indication who, and I am not getting paid to find out, anyway. Kome thought as she quickly cleaned the woman as much as she could using water from the stream and some leaves. Then she picked her up and carried her back to the farmer's home – he would not be happy to find out what had happened to his wife, but there was nothing to be done, it had likely been too late by the time Kome had received the mission. I need to report this incident to the guards, as well. Whatever had attacked this woman would likely strike again.
Spoiler: awareness 32-success Kome knelt by the woman, but then stopped as she heard something. Her head snapped in the direction of the noise. Something was coming her way - something big.
Fuck! I think I overstayed my welcome! Having no desire to face whatever was coming, especially not with the unconscious woman right next to her, Kome decided to skip the “cleaning the wife” part. She picked the woman up and fled the way she had come from.
Kome threw the unconscious woman over her back and started moving down the stream Spoiler: ? 3 - greater success As she started escaping, the noises behind her, started intensifying. It seemed that she was noticed. Spoiler: escape 66 - fail As she moved through the forest, it became obvious, she would not be able to escape. Not with the woman on her back... That left her options of staying and fighting, hiding - which might be difficult with a woman stinking with sex, or dropping the woman and escaping...
Fuck! Looks like I won't be able to to get away! I can't risk fighting... whatever that is... with a civilian close by. And trying to hide is unlikely to work with her smelling of sex... Wait, maybe I'm thinking about it the wring way. Maybe I should let it follow me and go back to the village. If it decides to follow me into the village it will have to fight the guards. Kome headed back to Shoda village, no longer trying to escape but just to stay ahead of whatever was chasing her.
With a new plan formulated, she started running toward the village, the pursuit behind her- Spoiler: Kome's planned bait escape 20 - success -but in a safe distance. Finally, she arrived at the opening from which she could see the village. Spoiler: ? 62 - failure She started making her way in the direction of the guards when she realised something and stopped. She looked in the direction of the forest, but she saw nothing. Has she lost the pursuit during her escape?
Did it give up, or is it just hiding and waiting to surprise me? Doesn't matter, the woman needs help so I'll ask the guards where to find a healer. Having no desire to stick around and find out if the unknown pursuer was still there Kome continued toward the village and the guards.
Sometime later, Kome stood in the room, leaning against the wall, as a healer looked the woman over. Finally, the healer turned to face kunoichi. "Her body is exhausted - she took a part in a lengthy copulation... her body will need a couple of days to recover." She paused. "Her mind is lost - whoever fucked her, he has broken her mind. It will take time for her to recover... weeks... if not months." healer looked at the patient.
“That's unfortunate.” Kome sighed. “I hope her family will help her recover. I better go let the husband know that I found his wife... I hope it won't be a problem to leave her here while I speak to him.” If the healer had no objections Kome would go and inform the husband what she had found, and what had happened to his wife.
Leaving the healer and the woman she found, Kome made her way to her client. Finally, she arrived at the man's home and found the man sitting in front of his house. He turned his head and looked at the Kunoichi, with hope in his eyes. "You returned..." He said.
Kome sighed – delivering bad news like these was not an enjoyable task. “Yeah, I'm back. The good news is, I found your wife. The bad news is, it will be a long time before she recovers..” If she recovers at all... “I'll let the healer explain in more detail – that's where I left your wife when I came to get you.” She led the man to the healer's place.
The worried man followed Kome. The man almost broke as he heard the healer's explanation. As the two left the building, they stood for a moment in silence. Finally, the man turned to kunoichi. "Here." He gave her a bag with coins. "As promised. Your payment... forgive me, but I have to return home..." With that, he left Kome alone. The woman yawned, as the fatigue finally bought up with her.
“I hope your wife recovers fully...” Kome watched the man leave, then decided to get a room at a local inn, not wanting to risk the trip back while tired. Meanwhile, back in the village Osa was wondering what to do next...
Osa looked at the buildings, feeling a slight pride. They have set up foundations... now, they only needed to develop. She turned to look at the forest... what should she do now?
