Chapitre 26: Chapter 26
Harry nodded. It was actually a reasonable answer. It wasn't out of place in the midst of the other crazy tidbits all around him. Though, even a 5 year old would have caught on to the very very odd way this "meeting" had gone. Well, he would soon be seeing soon for himself. Idly, he tracked the other four who were still following him(or was it the old man?) on the rooftops. They were doing it quickly and quietly, moving without drawing any attention to themselves at all. Harry was reasonably impressed. At least this lent credence to the theory that they were ninja. This was going to be very interesting, or very dangerous.
The shop was ironically quite similar to what Harry expected. There was a sign, so faded that he couldn't see what was written on it. There was a glass display that was quite full of swords and daggers, at least 20 of them all unsheathed for the world to see. When Takeda led him inside, he found the same gloomy tones that pervaded the rest of the alley. He mentally shook himself. He sat by the door and waited for his 'guide' to speak. While normally he would not have even considered going into an unknown building, especially with the hint of danger that was there, he was truly curious. And he also had the explosive tag equivalent of a directional charge on the door. Any funny business and the old man would be left with a bigger entrance than he would have preferred.
Takeda looked at his guest with a smile. He was actually surprised to see that the man had come straight in with no regard for a trap. His confidence meant he either had a foolproof method of escape or he was very stupid. And considering that he had some sort of mysterious power at his disposal, he was not particularly sure which he would prefer. Malfoy, was a predictable entity with known abilities, linear thought patterns and a very limited set of probable actions to a given situation. This one was none of those. He decided to take the first step.
"So Mr. Skywalker, I hope you can clear some things for me?"
Harry nodded. "Ask away, and I shall answer as much as possible"
Takeda smiled. "You see, a half hour ago, I was sitting in my shop here and I was quite shocked to feel this very mysterious energy from close by. I couldn't help but be curious, so I went in search of what or who was responsible. That's how I found you actually. Could you please tell me what I felt was?"
Harry was unsure if he was supposed to be banging his head on the wall or just plain shocked. Who went for direct in situations like these?('and what do you call a situation like this I wonder?') honestly? Not that he showed it of course. He was way too careful for that. But then again, you could never really be sure...
Takeda, who was completely focused on finding a reaction, found none. And while he would have preferred some reaction, this lack of reaction was as much of a response as any But then again, this was the look of someone who had seen the play before and was merely waiting for the play to end so he could go home. Takeda felt his heart rate rise just that bit. This was after all how he had felt in his first missions more than three decades ago. Yes, this was what diplomacy was all about, war of the words, and yet more a poker game than a duel.
Harry of course, had no idea what his absolute lack of reaction(all holes had been plugged with his henge) was generating in the mind of his host. He was simply considering what to tell this man, since it was obvious that he had to give him something. He had no idea if the four outside were merely bodyguards or actually here to get at himself. There was no margin for error in a five to one fight, especially with no information about the enemy. No, this was a battle of words and wills, and he would have to win without exposing any of his cards. This was now negotiation by proxy. The best lie however, is 10% truth and 90% misdirection.
"So you can detect it? I was unaware that there were any humans on this planet who could sense such alien energies"
It might have been a totally innocent statement if Harry had not used perfectly cultured Japanese. As such, Takeda had already displayed open shock at that.
"Who are you?" Takeda was now quite off balance. He was not really thinking to his best ability at this point. His whisper though had not been meant to be heard.
"I? I am a ninja. The question I would like answered is, Who are you?"
(A/N: mind you, this last sentence sounds a whole lot cooler when its in Japanese and the words gets drawn out)
Takeda steeled himself. A ninja was not actually a very strange thing, even in these parts. Every year, rookies were sent on fact finding missions to countries with no permanent ninja outposts. It was not only an easy mission to accomplish, it helped the new person get that first look at how to do missions in general. Things like reports, proper behavior, acclimatisation to new cultures, and the other almost subconscious things that they needed to develop. Indeed, every clan worth their salt had ninja all over the place. Besides, nobody wanted a repeat of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where two clans were wiped out, without a soul being aware until it was too late. The fires of Amaterasu burned all too bright that day.
The other disquieting issue was that every other clan worth informing had been politely informed that Hakumei had set up base in England, in a 'so please try not to interfere, thank you very much!' kind of way. It was inconceivable that if this was a shinobi, he would not know who he was. Takeda of the Snow was quite well known, not to mention any ninja here would have been informed about the outpost and its commander in case they had a cause for distress. Ninja clans were quite cooperative in those matters, at least on foreign soil. They were one of a kind after all.
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone