The Ox and the Hound | Cezerny

[Ro]

Scouting.

That's what she told the team she was doing. The truth was, though, that Ro just didn't like being around her team. They were very peculiar, and she didn't appreciate it. One of them was useless. Another one of them was annoying. And the last one was probably there to keep watch over her. She didn't like the situation and she needed a break.

Hence, scouting.

Samehada was still lookin' like a tantō. Ro and Gyūki casually chatted about the current situation within their shared conscious. Gyūki's perspective on the situation made Ro feel more comfortable.

[Cezerny]

Cezerny's latest adventures found him in the outlands of Kumo no Kuni. Of all the lands to hunt in, this was the one that made him the most uneasy. The Raikage was not a man to be trifled with. Any of them, really. And so he would make his travels through the area brief. Not that he was expecting to find anything. Son Goku was probably least likely to be here, being that he was from Tsuchi no Kuni. And according to his intel from Shu, both of the Cloud's jinchuriki had chosen to side with their respective village.

Cezerny was just killing time, really.

But his nose was as hard at work as it ever was, inhaling, picking through the scents he managed to draw in, and tossing them aside after categorizing them.

Again, not that he was expecting to find anything.
But he found something.

Drawing in one more time, the heads-up display in his brain separated a particular scent from the others.
WOMAN
AGE 20-35
NATIVE TO THE CLOUD
NOT MENSTRUATING

And there was something else there, too. Something familiar, but not at the same time. A duality. Kind of like smelling brownies and chocolate chip cookies at the same time. Regardless, he turned in her direction. WOMAN and NOT MENSTRUATING was all he really needed to know.
Spotting Ro a distance away, Cezerny shouted in greeting and raised a hand. He wasn't exactly about being subtle.

"Oi! Pretty lady! Would you happen to have the time?"

[Ro]

She should have kept her mask on. And her cloak. The team was going to bitch at her if they found out somebody saw her just chillin'. Well, at least Samehada wasn't revealed in all it's glory. That would give her away, big time. At least knowing that she'd been seen, but probably not recognized, Ro was satisfied with turning to the newcomer with a glare.

Something seems off about this guy, Gyūki warned her. He was perceptive, and she trusted him. If Gyūki was leery of this guy, so was she. But at least he called her pretty. Gyūki huffed.

"No," she replied with a wry smile.  "I'm afraid I don't."

[Cezerny]

As Cezerny advanced closer, he could get a better look at Ro. Quite a beauty she was...tall, olive-skinned with hair of white. A sly grin crossed his lips as he advanced, taking his hands out of his pockets to show that he was unarmed. His zanbatou was sealed away in a scroll at his waist, safe and sound, and he did not so much as even carry the standard shinobi shuriken and kunai.
No...one did not need to carry a weapon when he was pretty much a walking weapon.

He stopped a little distance away, and he wasn't quite sure why. Her scent was blowing in from upwind now, and there was something nagging at him about it.
What IS that.... he wondered, narrowing his eyes a little bit. Heedless to say, there was something else daring to betray his nose as his brain was taken away again.
"That's all right, beautiful. I got plenty enough for the both of us. What brings a pretty thing like you out to these parts?"

There's something about her, Cez. There's something there that I just can't quite put my paw on...
This internal tussle continued, but none of it would show as he considered Ro for a moment.

[Ro]

He's weird, Gyūki announced. Ro laughed internally. Gyūki was absolutely right about that. This man was a weird creature, and he was getting a little too close. Ro raised her hand forward as a warning for Cezerny not to come any closer than he already had.

"Stay right there," she said. "Why would you want to know?"

Although she was appreciative of the compliments, although Gyūki was certainly not, she did not like that a stray man had suddenly come upon her. They were not that close to the roads. She did not treat many things as accidents in her life. If somebody had found her, there was a reason.

[Cezerny]

Cezerny stopped, noticing Ro's hand motion. He obliged her request, laughing and stopped his forward motion, even taking a step back.
"No particular reason...just making conversation. You're a chick, I'm a dude...that's what guys do, right? Talk to a pretty lady who happens to catch their eye?"
And that's truly all it was. Nose was still working that side job, still trying to figure her out. The revelation would hit him like a brick tied to a string.

She was a jinchuriki.

And though a whole mess of light bulbs would be going off in his head, those hazel eyes would not betray his findings.
"I just happen to be wandering through this area, on my way to the next. I'm looking for something. But I found you, instead. Is that so wrong?"
Cezerny flashed her the trademark puppy-dog eyes that he was fairly renowned for, still holding his position. Ro just became that much more valuable to him, and he didn't need to piss her off to the point that she might fight or run.

[Ro]

"And what, pray tell, were you looking for?" she asked. Gyūki remained leery enough for the both of them, but Ro wasn't entirely bothered. This man had halted when she told him to. That didn't really mean too much if he happened to be an enemy, since ninja had many ways of attacking. But, at the very least, he listened to her in this instance.

"I hope it wasn't something perverse."

[Cezerny]

"No....never! Me, perverse?"
Cezerny feigned shock, breaking into that award-winning smile again. He certainly was having a good time with Ro. But all good times must come to an end. He lowered his head, reaching back to scratch at his honey blond fluff.
"Well, I didn't know it when I came, but I know it now without a doubt...I been looking for you, girl. Shu been looking for you. He sent me out to find all you guys."
He decided to clarify all at once...the last thing he needed was a misunderstanding. Though he was decently equipped to fight a Biju, that didn't mean he needed to, nor that he wanted to. Though that wouldn't stop her from kicking his ass if she really wanted to. There had to have been a reason that Shu didn't necessarily tell him to look for her...

"...please don't fight me..." he pleaded with a rather flat face. "I...I just can't."

[Ro]

Ro and Gyūki both laughed at the same time. In unison, even. If Cezerny could hear Gyūki, oh it would have been all the better. Shukaku? He wanted to see Ro and Gyūki again? That was hard to imagine, given their first encounter.

This guy must be full of shit, Gyūki managed to say through his laughter. They were settling down, but it was still funny. Ro finally calmed down, and her laughter subsided. She looked at Cezerny dead in the eyes.

"First of all, why does Shukaku have you running errands for him? What makes you so special that he didn't just kill you? Second, why would he want to see us now? Did the ones he contracted already fail to live up to his expectations?"

He probably doesn't even know what this kid is up to, Gyūki noted.

Maybe, Ro replied. But who knows? Let's hear this guy out, at least.

Gyūki was silent, but he was in agreement. It would be nice to know what his brother was up to these days, and why he had a human pet running his errants.

[Cezerny]

Cezerny just stood for a moment, contemplating Ro and her next choice of words and/or actions. She was strong. He didn't need scent or whatnot to tell him that. She was not a woman he wanted to tangle with. And while he didn't know which Biju she held, he had a feeling he didn't want anything to do with that, either. He could only hold his breath and hope she wasn't in a cut-y, beat-y or kick-y mood today.

Instead, she decided to entertain conversation with Cez, to which he breathed a sigh. The longer they had to talk, the more chances he would have to inform and prove he wasn't full of shit and didn't deserve an ass-kicking. He would oblige her. After all, he needed her. Shu needed all his brothers and sisters.
"Well, I might not look it, but I'm actually a pretty big deal." Cezerny said, puffing out his chest a bit. "I...have many leatherbound books and...my apartment smells of rich mahogany."
He chuckled at his own wit, fully conscious that neither Ro nor her biju might get the reference.

"No, seriously. I've proven myself useful enough to him. The fact that I found you is one of the prime reasons he initially employed me. I'm a tracker. And he wants to see all of you. Something is going to happen. That's all I can say right now. I can take you to him, if you want. If you don't, I'll leave right now. For serious."
Cezerny nodded, smiling. Being that Ro wasn't one of the ones he told Cez to retrieve, he wouldn't take her there by force. She had the option, and he waited like an eager puppy for her answer.

[Ro]

Gyūki huffed.

"So you're a tracker," she said, noting the word choice. Not particularly a sensor, but he'd managed to find her and deduce that she was a Jinchūriki all on his own. That did fit the bill for Shukaku's plans, at least. He was trying to recruit the Bijū for his strike against the Bijūtsukai, so he needed somebody that could physically find his allies.

Ask him how he intends to bring you to Shukaku, Gyūki advised. They could only imagine that Shukaku would hole up in the Land of Wind. It wasn't as if the Hidden Sand Village was going to be much of a bother.

"How do you intend to take me to him?" she asked. Ro was going off of an idea of where Shukaku was hiding out. "The Land of Wind is a long walk from here."

[Cezerny]

"Not just any tracker..." Cezerny said with a sly smile. "THE tracker. I sniffed him out twice over three different lands. And that's only the tip of the iceberg."
He would not play his entire hand right now. No, they would be privvy to the rest of his info only after he knew they were allies. For now, Ro and her biju could just as quickly turn and hightail it back to Kumogakure and tell the Raikage everything they had learned just now. With the knowledge that he was now working for the escaped Ichibi, his bounty would likely at least triple, and that would draw a lot of the idiots and the uninformed out of the woodwork to track him down, as well as a couple of possibly-legitimate threats.

Her next question was a reasonable one, and Cezerny raised his right hand, displaying his palm to Ro. There, she would see the intricate seal etched into it.
"Why, I would summon us to him, of course. Yeah. I can do that, too."
Closing his fist once more, he stuck his hand in his pocket.
"But like I said...it's up to you, really."

[Ro]

Gyūki remained silent, but still observant. This man was interesting. Ro also found him interesting, as well as his abilities. He'd been able to track down Shukaku when nobody else could, as well as other Bijū - including the ones sealed within Jinchūriki. His nose was on point.

Although, what is he didn't really work with Shukaku. What if this man was a member of the Bijūtsukai. An ability like that would be valuable to a group determined to locate and capture the Bijū. There were many questions in Ro's head, but Gyūki calmed her. Perhaps we should put some trust in him, Gyūki advised. Shukaku may not use humans much, but he does value tools that can be used. Even if this man could be working for the enemy, he could also be working for Shukaku.

"Can you return me here should I request it?" Ro asked. "I'm interested in speaking with Shukaku, but I will remain with my village until I deem it unsafe."

[Cezerny]

Cezerny had to resist the urge to clap and jump up and down like a schoolgirl. It still wasn't a solid 'yes', but they were moving in that direction. He still had little idea of who she was or what biju she held, but that much didn't matter. Shu would take care of that angle if and when they met.
His job was just the roundup.

"Little lady..." he said with a nod. "I can bring you right back to this very spot."
To prove his point, he stooped down at that particular moment and picked up a stick. Digging a quick series of patterns in the moist dirt, he then performed a few handseals and pressed his hands into the design, which matched the one on his palm. It glowed briefly with white-hot chakra before ebbing out.
Cezerny then stood again, dusting off his hands.

"So what do you say? Take a trip with me?"