Mission Taken - Bounty Hunt Aki Sato (B Rank):

For once, he was not late. Grey eyes blinked slowly, his gaze fixated upon the villages gates in the distance, almost as if expecting something...

I'm coming home...

Calm yourself. This is long overdue. You just need to sleep in your own bed for a few days. A bit of refocus. Right. That had to be it. He could feel... something. Something bad was on the horizon, something that would engulf the world. The winds smelled faintly of blood. Weird.

Shaking his head, the male reached to his back, making sure that his pack was secure. A rather large knapsack, filled to the brim with trinkets, toys, candies and such for his younger cousins. Of course, tucked into the pack was the storage scroll housing holding even more odds and ends. Carrying all of them would be a bit too much, even with his newfound power.

I'm Coming home...

Happiness bubbled in him; to see the gates of Konohagakure no Sato after so long? Yes, please. He had stayed nearly a month and a half longer than everyone else whom he had traveled with; they had all departed from the ruins with their to begin their own search. Time well worth spent; he had met a new friend, did a little shopping. But there was no place like home; and Konohagakure no Sato was calling him. It would feel good resting high in the trees once more; not that the ruins were bad. The air there was 'thick' to him. He was more used to the thin air of the higher altitudes.

Tell the world that I'm coming home...

He could not wait. He could almost taste Granny's soup, something that he had been craving for weeks now. He knew she had to have a pot of it ready for him; he had sent word ahead that he was coming. Knowing her, she would have a loaf of monkey bread baking for him...

I know my kingdom awaits, and they have forgiven my mistakes...

Maybe he would stay a while. Rest up before beginning his journey. Maybe a day or two-- maybe a week. He had plenty of time. Its not like he was he had anything else to  do... Oh.

I'm coming.....

Shikei smiled; a strange thing. With that and a swish of his cloak, the male began to walk. Fast steps, ones that would bring him to the gates rather quickly.

Step by step, heart to heart, left right left.

But it was not to be that simple. It never was.

Fresh through the gates of the village, and suddenly someone was in his face already. This had to be a new record or something. Blue eyes blinked slowly, taking in the measure of the persona before him. He looked to be powerful, but nothing to write home about.

To close...

Taking a step back, his face still frowning, the male took note what the male was carrying, one bearing the seal of the village.

"Shikei? You are to report to the Administration building at once for debriefing and your next assignment."

...shit.

---

It would seem that someone had spilled the beans on his homecoming; there was an urgent mission for him to take on, one that he was not sure he wanted to do. He was just getting home, for christ’s sake! But the administration insisted that he was perfect for the mission, and despite his protests, he was to be given the task to complete. It was supposed to be something simple, especially for someone of his skillset.

He was even supposed to have someone assist him with the mission, someone he apparently knew. His partner was supposed to meet him by the East gate, so the male would take off in that direction. As he moved through the village, he would take note of his attire, thankful that he was somewhat dressed for a mission; Shikei can be found wearing an armored chest piece over a high collared black shirt; covering the lower half of the face is most often a large white scarf. On the lower half of his body, Shikei wears pants made of a strange material that seems to dampen the normal sounds of movement (i.e, running, walking and the like) that are tucked into a set of high boots made of soft, worn leather. The boots are covered in belts and buckles, each meant to support the leg and hold the boots in place as the wearer moves. He did not his normal weapons on him, but rather a simple kunai and some senbon for the moment.

Not that it mattered much to him, as he often did the best with the least assuming equipment.

---

834 wc

“Mommy! Get up!”, came a young feminine giggle from beside her as she felt little hands on her arm, trying to shake her. Letting out a playful grumble she simply reached ‘blindly’ in front of her, grasping the little girl and suddenly rolling over sideways on the couch so that her daughter Zaylee was good and secure between herself and the back of the couch before returning to making the most ridiculous and horrendous sounding snoring ever - a complete and total opposite of the way she really was when asleep. The result was another outburst of giggles as the girl playfully struggled in her arms. “Mamoru! Help me! She’s like a monster!”, the girl exclaimed amidst her giggles, her twin brother joining in and attempting to wrestle the child free only to find himself quickly hooked and brought into the fold of Amaya’s arms, held ‘prisoner’ the same as his sister was: Amaya only furthering to increase the sound of her obnoxious fake snoring. She continued to feign sleeping up until the children decided the best method of escape involved tickling her, Amaya’s eyes shooting open, revealing stormy gray colored hues filled with mischief and laughter. As she felt little fingers wiggling against her ribs she simply chuckled and grinned.

”Nice try little ones, but it is I who is the tickle monster, and you two who are my helpless victims!”, Amaya spoke in a playfully sinister voice before letting out a laughter akin to an adorable villain. Sitting up she wiggled her fingers threateningly, watching as both children scampered off the couch and took off giggling in the same general direction: to the kitchen where their father was busy preparing lunch. ”Hehehe… I’m going to get you my little pretty, and your brother, too!” Chuckling she followed the children into the kitchen, pausing in the doorway to check out the twins father as if sizing him up for battle. ”Hmm… might be a challenging opponent with that spoon of doom and sauce he’s wielding!” Whatever her future husband's response was was interrupted by a knock at the door. Taking note of the curious look upon his face as well as the children’s she knew that none of them were expecting visitors - though, her own parents her future grandparents in law did have a tendency of showing up at random - so she turned and headed towards the front door, calling behind her a ”I’ll get it.” while picking up on her son making a comment of being saved by the door which caused her to smile.

Pausing at the door the happiness and relaxed nature from moments ago was hidden being a carefully constructed mask of apathy, the look she often wore when not engaged or focused on something - a way to hide the real her, to protect those whom she cared about by showing a type of indifference that was anything but the truth. Opening the door a single eyebrow would raise as her stormy-gray gaze rested upon the messenger who faulted for but a moment before handing over a scroll that was sealed. “You’ve been requested for a mission, ma’am.”

”Thank you.”, Amaya would respond out of courtesy and politeness - the least she could do for someone she worked with whom hadn’t pissed her off yet - before closing the door and leaning against it. The seal was popped and the scroll unraveled to reveal the contents of the mission as well as a minor tidbit of information that requested she take a certain individual she was: the request being apparently non-negotiable despite the individuals lack of rank for such a task. Of course, Amaya above all others knew that lack of rank meant squat when it came to the execution of tasks as she had proven time and time again herself. ”Save me some lunch, I’ve been requested for a mission.”, she called out before heading out the door exactly as she was: long black curly hair pulled up onto a ponytail, black turtleneck styled long sleeve shirt that cling to her athletic and toned figure, baggy black pants that tucked in about the knees to black leather boots. Even her weapons, the few she bothered with, were hidden in various spaces of her person. The only last thing she bothered with as she walked out the door was snagging her village hitai-ate which she tied loosely around her neck.

She took to the rooftops as her means of travel almost immediately, heading to the East gate where she was to meet with the individual who would be taking the bounty with her. As she moved, darting from one building to the next, she thought over who it was she would be working with, more particularly the first time the pair had met: when he had attempted to rob herself and the elderly women she was traveling with, and Amaya had beaten him so badly he had required hospitalization. They had run into each other several times before then but she assumed this mission would definitely be interesting regardless. Arriving by the East gate Amaya jumped down and took to leaning against one of the nearby posts, arms folded across her chest as she glanced around, waiting to see if the young man she would be working with had arrived or not.

---

905

He still had plenty of time between now, and the time he was supposed to meet Amaya at the east gate for this mission, so he decided to stop in town and grab a cup of coffee. As he went, he could feel the people staring at him. He knew why, though; his state of dress often drew attention to himself. It was if people had never seen someone dress like a typical ninja before; was being stealth minded out of fashion somehow?

As the male made his way to the East Gate, the male began to reflect on his actions, the choices that brought him to the place in life. His life was that of a constant cycle of anger and strife, something that he felt helpless to break free of. Every day was a struggle, of the fight to lie, cheat and steal just so that he could make it through the day, only to wake up and do it again the next day. That is, until the day he met Granny and…

“...Amaya…”

Those blue would lock upon the sight that was displayed before him; one of the woman that changed his life for the better, and one of the very people that Shikei could say for certain terrified him. The ass kicking that Amaya once handed him when he attempted to rob her and Granny ran fresh in the young male’s mind every time he saw her; and the knowledge that she was holding back that day made her even more terrifying. The male had once seen her truly angry; the flames that licked the sky that day were awe inspiring. Her temper as an Uchiha was legendary, almost as skills as a medic.

As Shikei drew closer, he could not help but wonder as to why Amaya was here at the gates? Was she waiting for someone? Was she waiting for him? A shudder crept up the male’s spine. Was she his partner for this mission?

Suddenly, the male was suspicious; this kind of thing was the type of situation that Granny would arrange. Granny was well aware of Shikei’s healthy apprehension towards Amaya; as far as he knew, Amaya still viewed him as nothing more than a common thief, and Shikei never spoke to her much more than what was considered polite. To put it quite simply, the male did not know where he stood with her. Shikei could only surmise that Granny put together this little mission to force them to get alone, or at the very least, come to understand one another.

He would not put it past her. But even still, Shikei was not one to back down from a challenge; he would face this task with his head held high, and do what he was ordered to.

As Shikei came closer to Amaya, he would nod to her silently in greeting once she noticed him; who the hell was he kidding, she probably knew he was coming already.

“Sup, Amaya? I guess I’m tagging along with you on this mission, huh?” As he waited for a reply, the young man would take a long draught of his coffee, waiting to either be proven wrong, or stand correct.

---

1,377 | 2500

Amaya nodded to those who passed by while remaining out of the way of those actually guarding the gate - not her job and all she wasn’t going to interfere. Well, she might have, had a serious incident popped off and all, but alas it hadn’t so it simply was not her problem or her business. Instead she took her time to go over mentally what she knew about their target: Aki Sato. As per last recent description given of the twenty-four year old woman she had tan skin and shoulder length auburn colored hair, along with hazel eyes and freckles that speckled her cheeks and nose. Though, as Amaya of all people knew, appearances could so easily be changed at the drop of a hat by any self respecting ninja worth their salt. Despite having not worked with her Amaya knew of her childish personality and her knack for throwing fits and temper tantrums when things didn’t end up going her way or the way she had planned. She was also rude and tended to let anything come out of her mouth regardless of how vulgar or disrespectful it could be. Unlike her appearance these things would be harder to change and play off as something else: especially when they were outbursts at best. Beyond that on the field of battle the woman had displayed decent proficiency when using a sword as well as ninjutsu, and appeared capable of utilizing both wind and lightning.

As her mind wandered to the possibilities of how things could or might go down she watched a cart laden with merchant goods trudge on by after a careful inspection by one of the guards - the hassled merchants looking less than happy over the confiscation of several scrolls. While it was on the tip of her tongue to silence their grumbling by informing them that they could have landed in jail instead she found her attention suddenly pulled by the appearance of the very male she would be working with that day: Shikei. Once more she found her mind flashing back to that day that she was shopping with her elderly friend and the beat down she had given the male. Despite him having tried stealing from her and the other woman she had gained a bit of respect for the guy too, mostly dealing with how he had handled his ass whooping with as much grace as possible. She had been holding back of course, but that didn’t mean she had gone easy on him either.

Amaya automatically returned the polite nod as she pushed lightly off of the pole she had been leaning against, crossing the distance between the pair until there was a comfortable five or six feet left remaining between them. "Yeah, we’ll be doing this together. Actually, I’m curious to see your skills so I’ll be letting you take the lead on this - I’ll step in only if I have to but if what Granny has been telling me is correct that won’t be necessary.” Amaya knew she was putting him on the spot, but she had been hearing nothing but good things lately, and with the way the old woman had been bragging well… it had certainly made Amaya curious to say the least. Of course, she wasn’t going to feed the guy to the sharks either: she would be nearby if anything went downhill with their target, but otherwise she would let him work, and only step in if needed. ”So the planning and execution of our task is entirely up to you. Whatever plan you come up with I’ll follow.”, she added, wanting to let him know that she was essentially at his disposal. Knowing that they had both been given the same information she simply waited and listened, curious as to what he would decide to do with this opportunity. She knew that some people could handle being given such power well while others did not: some could handle it with finesse and smoothness and some let it go to their heads and lost themselves completely. She was essentially giving him a chance to prove himself, not only his skills, but how well he did under pressure and in a position of power.

Instead of waiting around she headed through the gates, assuming he would follow her: she assumed he knew as well as she did that talking around the merchants and planning out in the open wasn’t wise, it was better to do it away from the groups of people: who knew after all if their target had a spy listening nearby, or a friend that might be in the right place at the right time who was willing to tip her off. No point in screwing the mission over for themselves before it had barely begun after all.

---

810 | 1,715 / 2,500

"Yeah, we’ll be doing this together. Actually, I’m curious to see your skills so I’ll be letting you take the lead on this - I’ll step in only if I have to but if what Granny has been telling me is correct that won’t be necessary. So the planning and execution of our task is entirely up to you. Whatever plan you come up with I’ll follow.”

An eyebrow was raised; Granny had been talking to Amaya about him? It should have been no suprise to the young man; he Amaya was present that dy when he met Granny, and she was even there when he was released from prison into Granny's care. It seemed only natural that Granny would share his progress with her. Still, he could not help but wonder what else Granny had been saying about him, and to whom...

Pushing the throughts from his head, Shikei nodded to Amaya's words, and set about walking, motioning for her to follow behind him. He would take his time, walking along the road heading from the east gate. As he walked, he began to go over the mission details out loud, simply to be sure that they were both on the same page as far as the mission was concerned.

"Oh kay, so it is like this; basically, a situation came around a little while ago that caused a Kunoichi by the name of Aki Soto to go rouge. Rumor has it that this broad has a lot of valuable information on her that head honchos do not want getting around so she needs to be stopped and brought back before any of that is leaked. Dead or alive, they do not really seem to care, though they did request alive so that she can be questioned."

The male paused for a moment in his speaking to allow the information to sink in. He wanted no misteps, no mistakes as far as this mission was concerned. Amaya herself was a jounin, so he figured that she could take care of herself. He, on the other hand, was potentially in over his head and out of his league. While he did indeed spend most of his time hunting for rogue ninja and bandits, they were usually of his own level, somewhat. This woman was classified as a B rank ninja, while he himself was still noted to be Chuunin; possibly Special Jounin due to his tracking and infiltration skills. Could he handle being in charge of this? Could he manage someone else's life in his hands? These thoughts were pushed aside yet again as the male continued his movements, taking them far from the edges of Konohagakure no Sato and into the forest. Shikei knew for a fact there were several small 'towns' that dotted the area often drew the attention of the 'ill repute'. One in particular, a logging town by the name of Timberfield, was noted as a possible location for Aki Sota, as she seemed to frequent it before her defection. Taking a small breath, Shikei would relay this information next, along with a description of Aki to Amaya.

"Aki Sota's last known location was a town near here, Timberfield,; she has been spotted quite frequently in a bar there, more so than any other place within the little town itself. She is a fairly young woman with tan skin, and shoulder length auburn colored hair. Her eyes are hazel in color, and she has freckles all over her cheeks and nose. She stands at roughly five foot, seven inches tall, and weighs approximately one hundred and seventeen pounds. Chances are she will be in something a bit.. revealing.. as that has always been her style. She utilizes Kenjutsu primarily, and has a sword of decent quality last was known. She also uses Ninjutsu; able to further utilize not only wind but lightning as well. She will play dirty, she always has, and will use any trick in the book to try and get you off your guard; do not let her fool you. She will likely kill you the moment she gets the chance to."

With that, the male fell silent. Shikei knew that Amaya likely knew all this information already, but it never hurt to be sure. Victory came to those who were prepared. As the duo continued thier journey, they would begin to enter into a clearing of sorts -- a ring of cut tree that seemed to mark the boundary of the town of Timberfield. He could see that most of the building seemed to be made of wood and stone, nothing too serious. Some were taller than others, and yet some seemed to be in terrible shape for a building, resembling little more than shacks.  As Shikei stepped into clearing, he would nod to Amaya, provided that she was with him still.

"We're looking for a place called 'The Sullen Wench'; its the name of the bar that Aki Sota seems to frequent. When we find it, we can formulate a plan on how to proceed with this capture..."

858 | 2235 | 2500

It was definitely true that she was putting him on the spot, but then again she wouldn’t be doing it if she didn’t think he was capable of handling it. With the high praise that Granny had been giving lately she assumed he’d be able to accomplish this task with relative ease. The lack of rebuttal about her plan of putting him in charge, the lack of complaints, spoke positive volumes about Shikei and had her smiling inwardly while her face remained as nearly as passive as usual. Instead of speaking at first she watched him nod and then motion for her to follow which she did, keeping up with his pace, arms folded loosely across her chest as she glanced about, keeping her senses peeled for anything incoming - just because she was leaving him in charge didn’t mean she was going to be lax in her own participation after all: teamwork and all that.

Amaya kept silent, allowing Shikei to fill the travel time with whatever he wished to go over, his memorized knowledge of their target quite vast and rather impressive considering his lack of double checking the mission scroll. It was yet again another notch in the positive for the male as she listened intently as he described the reasonings behind Aki Sato needing killed or captured - though captured was preferred for questioning purposes. It was always easier to kill someone rather than capture them and Amaya found herself wondering what Aki Sato’s fate was going to end up being at the hands of Shikei. To the information she would nod to indicate she was listening and agreed with what he was saying though she remained otherwise silent for the moment so that he could continue speaking if he wished.

As Shikei went on to speak on their targets physical description - including Aki Sato’s enjoyment of wearing rather revealing clothing - and her prowess with Kenjutsu as well as the fact that she was armed with a decent enough blade Amaya once again found herself nodding in agreement: Shikei’s information was sound and complete and she was rather impressed that he had memorized it all that well, as well as how generally well he seemed to be handling so far being in charge: making sure that they were in the same page was the first step when it came to missions like this after all.

As they reached Timberfield, a place she had been quite a few times in the past, Amaya glanced about, scanning the windows and doorways and rooftops for any prying eyes cast in their direction. “If I remember correctly the Sullen Wench is close by: down this road, and then a left at the intersection. I’ve been here before but not for a while. They won’t have a sign hanging up anymore unless they replaced it - friend of mine and I were drinking and he felt the sign offended him so he shot it down with a bolt of lightning. The beam it was hanging on is probably still scorched if they haven’t replaced it already. Still, you’ll know it by the rowdiness - even mid day that place is always busy.”, Amaya spoke softly, ensuring that her voice would carry to none other than Shikei, not minding revealing a bit of her personal life outside of the job she always seemed to be busy with. Drinking times, especially drinking times away from Konoha itself, were quite fun and an excellent way to blow off some steam: more so when friends were in town to enjoy the time with. Of course with a place like the Sullen Wench there was always the chance for getting yourself into trouble, especially when you could let your hair down so to speak and just act and look like the average civilian. Fun times, fun times indeed.

Having given Shikei the location of the bar she would continue to follow his lead, wondering what kind of plan he had in mind for this operation. She was also curious as to if they would be taking their target back to Konoha alive, or in the proverbial body bag. Either of course was fine with her - she had seen enough death that the idea of killing a traitor didn’t bother her in the slightest.

---

720 | 2,435 / 2,500

“If I remember correctly the Sullen Wench is close by: down this road, and then a left at the intersection. I’ve been here before but not for a while. They won’t have a sign hanging up anymore unless they replaced it - friend of mine and I were drinking and he felt the sign offended him so he shot it down with a bolt of lightning. The beam it was hanging on is probably still scorched if they haven’t replaced it already. Still, you’ll know it by the rowdiness - even mid day that place is always busy.”

That was something of a surprise to the young male; he knew that Amaya drank at times, but did not think she would ever be the type to visit a bar, let alone one out here in the likes of this place. It just went to show that one never truly knew the persona they were accompanied with. He would not comment on it, but rather he would continue on down the road. Surely enough, just as Amaya had spoken, in the distance he could see a blackened beam and the remains of what appeared to be a former sign post. Shikei assumed that the owner simply could not be bothered to replace the sign; perhaps he or she felt that if he or she did replace the sign, it would be destroyed again.  

Oh well; it was not Shikei’s problem.

As they came upon the building, the male could clearly hear the commotion from from inside; the patrons were loud, rude sounding and clearly drunk. There were large windows on the front, large enough that one could see clearly inside of the establishment. From where he he stood on the street, Shikei could see a woman inside of the place that resembled the given description of Aki Sota.

Nodding his head to the bar, Shikei began speaking. Given the enclosed space as well as the amount of noise emanating from within, he had no fear of being overheard by anyone but Amaya. “Aight, so this is where we split up. I’ll head into there, work some magic, and try to get this broad alone. If possible, I’ll even get her out here. If I get her out here, I’ll slip back inside so that her attention is off me. At that point, do you thing; knock her out or whatever you decide. So long as we get her. If I can’t get her out, I’ll figure something out, but trust me, she’ll either be dead or out cold before I get her out here. Any questions?”

Provided that Amaya had no questions, the young man would put his plan into play. It would not take him long to reach the bar in question, and even less for him to get inside and spot his target. She was seated on a barstool, wearing clothing that left her practically naked, fawning over the male seated next to her as he purchased her another drink.

Shikei sat down on her other side, and ordered a drink for himself to begin the fun. It would not be a long wait for the male; between pacing his own drinks, he kept a quiet count on the number of drinks that Aki Soto, his target, and the male seated on her other side were. Aki and the male were damn near all over each other, petting and fawning in between their drinks. The man tending behind the bar seemed a bit uncomfortable with their quite obvious public displays of affection, but Shikei noticed that every time the duo ordered, they paid with cash. It seemed that so long as they continued to do so, he would not throw them out.

Fine.

Soon enough, the male, slurring his words and swaying on his stool, announced loudly to the whole bar [with as loud as he was becoming, Shikei that Amaya could hear him from outside the freaking bar] he had to take a piss. As he staggered off the rest room, Shikei began a silent ten count. He waited a bit, then got up and followed the drunken man to the bathroom. In Shikei's mind, it would be better to remove the drunken man fm the equation; if things went south, there was the possibility that he would attempt to defend Aki Soto and not listen to reason when the situation was explained, or worse, he could become a hostage. Once in the restroom, Shikei took a look around; thankfully, it was empty and with several stalls. Stepping up behind Aki Soto's drinking buddy, Shikei put the man into a sleeper hold, dragging him down into the far stall. When he was satisfied that the man was knocked out, Shikei pantsed the man, and left him on the porcelain throne. Hopefully, to anyone who came in later and found him, it would seem as if he passed out drunk on the toilet while taking a shit.

Win win for him.

Stepping back into bar properly after washing his hands, Shikei resumed his position at the bar, ordering a fresh drink. As the bartender went about fixing his order, Shikei kept an eye on Aki Soto, watching as she continued ordering drinks for herself while waiting for her buddy. After ten minutes, Shikei turned to her, and offered to purchase her a drink, citing that it seemed as if her 'friend' had abandoned her. The female accepted, and soon began flirting with him, attempting to flash him peaks at places he had no interest in exploring on her, but for the sake of the mission, he played along, acting just as drunk as she was. After a good thirty minutes, Shikei winked at the female, and suggested that they leave to find a quieter place. The drunken Aki nodded, almost tripping over herself as she stood up. Shikei placed a hand around her waist to steady her and lead her outside...

As they stepped into open air, the young man feigned remember, and leaned Aki Soto against a pillar, saying that he forgot to pay his tab. Stepping back into the bar, he walked over to the bar keep, ordered a fresh drink, and sat back on his stool to watch the show that was no doubt about to begin...

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