Gekko tripped and fell again in an almost comical fashion and Junko held her breath to stop from sniggering at the boy’s clumsy retreat. He wasn’t trying to run away exactly, but it seemed like every step forward Junko took while brandishing the knife prompted the child to stumbled back. “Come on, I don’t have the plague.” She turned her eye back to the otherwise mundane looking knife, her earlier trepidation about the artifact now replaced with amusement. “You’re going to hurt yourself, it’s really hill around here. You might tumble into a ditch or something.”

Gekko grabbed hold of a tree trunk to steady himself, then pulled himself behind it almost like a shield. “Okay, okay, okay, how about this.” He stuttered a bit as he tried to piece together a coherent thought. “Just bury the dagger here somewhere, come back and get it later. There’s no way I’m going to cooperate while you’re holding on to that. I’ll bite, I swear on my mom!”

As entertaining as the boy’s freakout was, Junko’s patience could only last so long. They were supposed to reach the rendezvous point by sunrise and with the previous evening’s skirmish with the Maede they were now way behind schedule. Not that she cared too much, Motonubu could sit on his butt and wait for all she cared. What was more concerning was the threat of an Annitou search party coming their way. She could only tolerate so many antics with that hanging over her head.

“Alright, how about this for a compromise.” Gekko cowered behind his tree while Junko began to wrap the dagger back up in its cloth. “We go half way and I’ll stash the knife somewhere. I can’t remember this spot, it’s just another piece of the jungle to me.” She patted the artifact down a bit and looked back up. “Plus I can’t have you blabbing out my secret hiding spot. Sometimes a lady needs her privacy, you know?” Junko ran her hands through some stray strands of hair that escaped from her restraining bun and took the moment of peace to tidy up. “See? I can be reasonable. There’s no reason this has to be a terrible experience for either of us.”

Her comment fell on deaf ears. Rather, it fell on no ears, because as she advanced towards Gekko’s location and circled the tree, she saw that nobody was there at all.

A jolt ran through her spine. Careless, careless, just like her father used to say. The toes of her sandals dug into the earth as she shot forward, reaching Gekko’s last known location in half a second. One hand rested on the guard of Sahori in case the kid was planning some kind of sneak attack- but, no. Junko’s eyes shot up and down rapidly and the boy hadn’t climbed the tree, nor were there any muddy tracks to follow below. Of course there weren’t- during their whole conversation Gekko had maneuvered himself towards the rockier side of the jungle clearing. Rather than walk on the dirt the boy had jumped from rock to rock, leaving not even a trail of water droplets to follow. He’d waited to dry off, too! Maybe that stupid dagger was worthless then- Gekko could have been playing off her ignorance the whole time.

What a brat!

There wasn’t any more time to beat herself up over it. Her attention left Gekko only for a short time and the boy couldn’t have gotten far, especially in his weakened condition (unless he had been faking that, too). The early morning darkness didn’t do any favors to Junko as she scanned the most likely routes for his escape. No, reverse that- Gekko wouldn’t have any better information than her in this low light. Running up or down stream was pointless since Junko would undoubtedly capture him if it became a foot race. The kid wouldn’t have made a break for it if he didn’t have a way to get away. The rapidly changing elevation of the jungle around this stream and its rocky shoreline meant he must have been banking on...what? A cave? A hiding spot? It was a roll of the dice but Junko decided to go with it. Underestimating Gekko got her into this. He must of had a plan.

Her legs shot her body forward again and with skilled precision she navigated the rocky terrain, leaving the stream behind her. The vegetation here was sparser, although large palms still dominated the sky above. All the while her eyes kept refocusing on each shadow and blur, looking for anything unnatural that might signal a small body hiding amongst the reeds or boulders. The pursuit took her higher and higher and the ground became increasingly difficult to navigate. Yet the harder the trail became, the most certain Junko felt the boy chose this route. Making things difficult was exactly the type of person Gekko was.

Reaching a particularly large rock she planted one foot on the surface, slapped her hands across the top of it, and pulled herself up with enough speed and power to almost launcher her body over the boulder’s lip. Gekko was too short and young to pull stunts like that, so if she could cut corners then she could catch up in no time! That adrenaline pumped through her as she cleared another set of rocks, climbing even higher. Her trained vision picked out some recently dislodged pebbles that had been disturbed just moments before, as evidenced by the darker colored dirt on their surface that now law exposed. That settled it! Gekko had gone this way for sure! With another mighty heave she jumped and cleared a sizable gap, placing her right at the top of the tallest rock pile. From there she would be sure to spot the little bugger’s trail!

Spot it she did. As soon as Junko triumphantly hauled her body up to the top with a mighty breath, the boy’s fate became revealed. Part of her expected a trap of some kind, as futile as it was, and one hand even still remained on her weapon as her head crested the top of the rocky cliffs. A trap would have been preferable to what she actually came across.

A panting, heaving, completely exhausted Gekko dangled just in the distance. His expression of bewilderment likely matched Junko’s own, as both of the boy’s feet no longer touched the earth. Instead he lay tangled in a vine-like morass of white ribbons, hung like an ornament from the boughs of the towering trees above. The spider web of ribbons themselves disappeared above him and gave no indication of their origin. Junko’s eyes picked out enough information from the unnatural way the bandages wove together to know something supernatural was at play here. This was the work of an Agent.

From her rocky vantage point Junko drew out both swords in a flash, before she even had a chance to hear the commands from on high. “Drop your weapons.” The voice was deep, but a fake deep, like someone trying to disguise their age. It was also unmistakably feminine. That ruled out every Agent Junko had interacted with so far. Apparently the woman was making new friends all over the island.

Junko’s response came back restrained and controlled. “Drop the boy.” Who was she negotiating with? A crazy person? A thief? The possibilities filtered through her mind as the response came back.

“You don’t get to make demands. Drop your weapons or I kill the boy.”

Okay, so, crazy person. Junko’s shoulders relaxed just a bit. She evened her breathing. As she attuned to her body, she realized her frantic climb up the crag had scratched up her skin along one of her shins. The air felt a bit cooler than it had a moment ago, and the breeze smelled just a tad wetter. Maybe rain was coming.

She took in every detail in anticipation of another vicious bout of violence breaking out. This was the Kiku-ichimonji style- or had been, at least.

“The kid means nothing to me. Go ahead.” Junko snorted her answer as she kept glancing from side to side. Was it just one Agent?

“Don’t waste your breath lying to me.” The girl spoke back instantly. Her voice reverberated strangely and made it impossible to pinpoint her location, although Junko was reasonably certain she must have been up in the trees somewhere. “I already know everything. You wouldn’t have kidnapped this kid if he didn’t mean something to you.”

A brief, sweet taste of relief washed over Junko. There was material to work with here.

“Lady,” Junko shifted her position slightly so that the tips of her swords stayed perpendicular, lest someone burst out from the rocks below her position. “I’m just a merc. You kill the kid and I don’t get paid, which would suck. But I ain’t gonna die for him. I’ll just go home.”

“You’re bluffing.”

Junko rotated her wrists to just give the impression of shrugging without compromising her position. “You don’t know jack, if that’s what you think. I’ll tell you what I know, though.” A rustling came from the vegetation around Gekko’s restrained body, but it could have just been the wind. Not like Junko could do anything for the kid now anyway. “You aren’t from Garion, and you aren’t from Annitou. Fenshingiri’s only settlement got wiped out a few days ago. That means you’re from Metsina, as if threatening to kill a kid didn’t give you cruel assholes away instantly anyway.”

The girl’s voice didn’t snap back like it had before. Encouraged, Junko kept talking.

“More than that, you wouldn’t have found me unless you were looking for me. That means you’re...the kids that got their skull stolen, aren’t you?”

Now the gir’s voice came back, filled with a furious but tempered anger. “I am an Agent of Metsina. Call me a child again and I’ll cut out this boy’s tongue right here.”

Despite the severity of the threat (and Gekko’s rather panicked reaction to it given his earlier smack talk), Junko’s own expression softened to something almost cordial. “My deepest apologies. Ms. Metsina. Let me make it up to you.” Junko moved the shorter Hikoboshi and pointed its blade right at Gekko’s helpless body. “Release the boy, and I’ll tell you where to find your skull. Garion isn’t paying me to keep its secrets.”

This was met with a bit of tense silence. Gekko struggled a bit but let out some pained gasps, the edges of the ribbons cutting slightly into his skin as he tried. Junko’s eyes narrowed at the sight. “You and I both know the boy ain’t got nothing to do with this.” Junko gave her blade a short thrust to punctuate her remark. “I know you Metsina types are sick in the head, but hurting kids is pretty low. He has nothing to do with us.”

“Keep talking,” responded the belligerent voice, “and I’ll think about it.”

Junko slowly released a stale breath through her nose. Why were Agents always so difficult to deal with? Must have been a god complex, what with those rare supernatural talents and all. It made even the simplest of conversations into these complex, annoying dances. “Your skull is being taken to the graveyard. You’ll find the man you’re looking for there.”

“The graveyard?” The question wasn’t being asked to Junko. The pause after suggested the voice was communicating with someone unseen. Junko’s muscles tightened again at the revelation. Wonderful, even more Agents to worry about. “You are referring to the one by north of the ash pit?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so. I’m not exactly a local, hard to give directions.”

“You’re miles away from it.”

“Well, Ms. Metsina, maybe you heard,” Junko jerked her head back, shaking loose some of the sweat building on her forehead. “I’ve got the Annitou army on my keister for the whole kidnapped thing. I’m trying to lose their trail.”

“What use is the boy, then?” This time another young voice came out. Again it’s exact location was fuzzy and indistinct and prevented Junko from finding its location. It was too unnatural. Another jutsu?

“Not my business to know, chief.” Junko spoke through her teeth in dismissal of the second voice. He sounded subordinate to the first- disrespecting him a bit might be worth it. “I was hired to deliver the kid, full stop. You want answers, you’re welcome to tag along. Just let me get paid first before you go starting a bloodbath.”

“Why does General Hashimoto Daisuke want the skull?” Now the feminine voice was back an agitated again. “What is Garion planning? You have to know something!”

“Even if I did, I can’t exactly have a civil conversation while you’re threatening to kill a child.” Once again Junko gestured to the now fully limp Gekko. “Drop him. I don’t believe we are enemies, unless you want to pick a fight with a former bodyguard from the City of King’s Last Legion.”

Straining her ears Junko almost thought she heard a ‘holy crap’, but that might have just been Gekko wheezing out in pain.

Some unseen discussion must have occurred, as the voice’s next command carried a tone of almost cordial politeness. “Give us collateral first.” The girl spoke very matter of factly now. She must have thought she had the upper hand in the negotiation. “The artifact you were discussing earlier, the dagger. It’s something Garion is after. We know of their assault on the Fenshingiri. Hand it over to us.”

The look in Gekko’s eyes made it clear he wanted to say something, but it seemed his smart mouth had finally found a time to stay shut. On the other hand Junko waited a bit to give the appearance of contemplation, as if this were a hard decision. “I’ll toss the dagger down into the rocks here.” Junko jerked her head down. “You can pick it up at your leisure.”

Some more unseen discussion occurred, followed by the girl’s commanding voice. “Throw it this way. Do it.”

Without losing her grip on her sidearm, Junko effortlessly reached into the bag hanging from her hip and retrieved the wrapped dagger. Although its form was obscured by the cloth she was fairly certain these Agents had been spying on her, so there wouldn’t be any question as to what it was. What a missed opportunity though! If only she’d prepared a decoy artifact to throw away instead- Junko just wasn’t cut out for these high stakes hostage negotiations that were becoming all too common now. Barely flicking her wrists she discarded the package. It tumbled through the air and landed in the grassy earth halfway between herself and Gekko. Then another uncomfortable silence wormed its way in.

“Well? Release the kid-”

“Throw your other weapons too.”

Although no noise came from Junko’s mouth, her lungs heaved in an attempt to let out an exasperated groan. “Bloody hell, you really are from Metsina. Are you just trying to piss me off?” Her frown deepened as her tone hardened further. “If you aren’t going to play fair then I see no reason to continue this conversation. At least Garion honors their commitments. Maybe I’d be better off putting you down here, I bet there’s a juicy bounty on your heads somewhere I could collect.”

“I won’t be pushed around by a vagabond.”

“Go ahead then.” Junko took a slow, deliberate step forward and waited for a response. “That kid being alive is the only way I get paid. You off him, I have no reason to work with you. Let him go and I can continue on my merry way.” She took another few steps and heard the subtle noise of shuffling leaves. At this point Junko was ready for anything.

Eventually her restless advance provoked a reply. “Stay put. My associate is going to collect the artifact. I will free the boy once we verify its authenticity.”

The only reaction Junko could muster was a heady snort. “Fine. Go nuts.”

A thick quiet finally settled after the exchange. Junko kept her attention forward and watched Gekko carefully. He still looked alive, at least. The Agent’s ribbons tangled him pretty good, like a fish wound up in a net. A dark stain building on the edge of some of the ribbons pressed against his skin indicated he’d been cut somehow- possibly meaning soft looking cloth was actually quite rigid and sturdy. That might make cutting him loose a problem if it came to that. However during the conversation Junko’s kept a studious eye on the surroundings, especially where the ribbons coiled up and disappeared up in the trees. Would the worse come to pass?

“It’s legit.” The young male voice from before chimed out from behind Junko, nearly causing her to spin and lunge at the sound alone. Her head snapped back and locked onto the sight of a disheveled looking child with slick black hair and pale skin- not quite the image she had in mind for a Metsina thug. He stood quite a distance away from her now and held the stone dagger in his hand, and the expression he wore didn’t betray even the slightest hint of fear. Actually he looked frustrated more than anything else. Junko could certainly sympathize.

Somehow the Metsina child had retrieved the dagger without alerting Junko at all, which did not bode well. Yet even with this advantage the female voice seemed to relent. “Fine. I am releasing the child. Neither of you are to move.” As she spoke Gekko’s wrappings unfurled and unceremoniously dumped him down onto the earth. He hit the ground with a funny sounding thud and let out a little gasp of exhaustion. The ribbons zipped back up into the tree line and disappeared. Everybody remained deathly still.

“So can we talk this out?” This time the words came not from the demanding female, but from the Metsina boy. “I don’t think we’re enemies. Or at least we don’t need to be.”

“Not a great first impression you’re making here.” Junko eased up on her posture but didn’t put her weapons away. “You got to check your side of the bargain, so let me check mine. If you did any serious damage to my cargo I’m going to be really upset.” No response came from the female voice but that was expected. Given her cautious nature the girl must have been preparing for some kind of counter attack from Junko and didn’t want to reveal her position. The boy ended up granting the request with a simple nod.

Finally moving after what felt like an eternity of standing in place Junko slowly made her way towards the collapsed Gekko. The boy laid face down in the dirt, not quite a sobbing mess but from his body language he was clearly already tired of these repeated kidnappings. “Yo, kid.” Junko’s swords stayed at the ready while she loomed over his crumpled form. “How you feeling?”

“Like garbage,” came the weak reply.

“Alright, so back to normal then.” If he had enough strength to continue being sassy, then he couldn’t have been that hurt. Junko turned back towards the Metsina boy. “If you are looking for Daisuke, then I suggest you just follow me and stay hidden. I’ll run into him eventually.”

“How do we know you aren’t leading us into a trap?”

“Fine, don’t follow me.” Junko’s frown contorted into a grimace at how difficult these Metsina Agents were being. Motonubu never bothered asking all these questions. “I’ll tell Daisuke you have the dagger and he’ll have to go after you. Where do you want him to find you?” The Metsina boy looked a bit taken aback by Junko’s inquiry, as though he hadn’t thought that far ahead. That more or less confirmed the boy wasn’t the one calling the shots.

“Don’t bother.” The girl’s voice returned, now somewhere directly above Junko. That was quite unsettling but clearly intentional. She was attempting to assert dominance. “Tell Daisuke we’ll find him first.”

It took every bit of professionalism and tact left in Junko’s body to not roll her eyes. Instead she opted to just slowly begin the motion of sheathing her blades. Her intuition told her the Metsina pair had more of an interest in avoiding conflict for the moment, a conclusion she was more than happy to acquiesce to. “Will do, Ms. Metsina. Am I free to go, then?”

The boy leaned sideways a bit to look around behind Junko, and offered a slightly worried response. “Looks like your hostage is way ahead of you.”

Junko’s laser focus on the area above her broke as she spun back around and stared at the empty spot of grass where Gekko had just been laying moments before. “Goddamn, what a slippery-” This time she caught sight of the ragged looking boy as his wrinkled Annitou cadet uniform disappeared into the vegetation nearby. Junko cursed again and took off after him, slowed only by having to maintain enough attention to her flank lest the Metsina thieves try anything funny.

Yuu remained stock still as Junko fled, and instead turned his attention back to the dagger. No doubt Hana wanted to squeeze out every bit of information she could from the mercenary, but the current arrangement seemed to have worked itself out quite well. The artifact didn’t look or feel special to Yuu at all- but neither had the skull, really. Whatever power it possessed, if it did indeed possess any, wasn’t immediately obvious. From above him came an agitated voice. “Forget about them. We got what we wanted.”

“You let the kid get away, Hana?”

“He’s worthless to us and I want that woman as far from us as possible. We can drag Daisuke out using the dagger and ambush him to get the skull back. I prefer a nonliving hostage anyway. Less messy.”

“Not as enjoyable to torture, though.” Yuu began wrapping the dagger back up, somewhat disgusted by the bloody state of the fabric. “Are you upset you didn’t get to flex on the mercenary?”

“I could have easily killed her.”

“Yeah, sure, of course.” As the sounds of the fleeing Junko finally dissipated Yuu’s shoulders slumped with fatigue. All the anxiety he’d been holding in could now be released. “That kid is screwed anyway. There’s nothing in that direction but a dead end.”

“In a jungle?”

Yuu shrugged and stared up at the steadily brightening sky. “Jinchi’s a nasty place, Hana. Running off blindly will get you into trouble real quick.” Given the circumstances, though, it might not be too long until they themselves got caught in just as hopeless of a situation. Knowing that a former member of the Last Legion was potentially also an enemy on top of a Garion General...Yuu shook off the creeping doubts as he looked to Hana for guidance. One step at a time. One step at a time.