Ame nodded dutifully, acquiescing to her cousin's wishes. The two girls proceeded to follow their sensei's trail to where had finally seemed to be giving them a break. It was a quaint little house in a nice suburb, and Ame quietly wondered exactly what her sensei was doing here. She very much doubted he lived here, considering that he had a nice big mansion that kage along with the Raikage title. Plus, the 'Welcome Home' mat and well-swept porch didn't seem to fit his style. As Kameko went to inspect around one side of the house, Ame went for the other. One window happened to peak in on a kitchen, and the smell of dumplings wafted through the air. Ame smiled wryly, wondering if her sensei had followed his nose towards food and stayed there. An old woman nearly caught sight of her as Ame ducked, and carefully made her way back to the front of the house to regroup with Kameko. She brushed a stray leaf from her hair and clothes from her brief dive into the bushes. Kameko seemed to have formed a plan and Ame nodded her consent. 

She had experience with playing the pity card before. It was an embarrassing truth, but a truth nonetheless. She adopted a downtrodden expression with practiced ease. When the two Ryuzoji girls had knocked on the door, Ame hadn't expected such a masterful sob story to spill from Kameko's lips, but carefully hid her reaction behind wide eyes, a bit of sniffling and fidgety body language. She didn't have a wound to bring tears to her eyes, and even if she did she abhorred the principle of crying, so she would have to leave that avenue of manipulation alone. As Kameko looked at her, Ame nodded, her lip trembling a bit. Kameko really was good at this. The comment about the cat belonging to her effectively made it Ame's turn to speak. She nodded once again and sniffled more. "I- I just love him a lot you know. Please, if you've seen him, we'd be so grateful." Her breath hitched a little at the end of her pleading, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. Apparently it worked. 

The woman invited the two girls inside, making quite a fuss over the bruise on Kameko's cheek and grumbling about the 'boys who had thrown rocks at them'. The door clicked shut behind them, and a sudden strange thought of 'it's a trap' flashed through Ame's mind. For some reason her mind settled on the witch from Hansel and Gretel. Both kunoichi were lead through into the woman's living room where the smell of dumplings and cinnamon tea was a lot stronger than when Ame had been peeking into the kitchen. Ame carefully held in her slightly miffed reaction from seeing her sensei happily laid out under blankets, obviously content. Instead she let a relieved smile bloom on her face at the sight of her 'beloved cat'. She didn't know how long she and Kameko were going to have to keep up the ruse, but it was better not to react in any way that jeopardized their situation. The old woman seemed to look at the quietly snoring Raikage and then at the two Ryuzoji girls before piecing together the situation with happy surprise.

Ame felt a soft kind of relief that she didn' have to keep up the shy and upset but now relieved cover story anymore. She let her smile settle into something more natural, nodding to tell the woman she was correct in her assumption. The woman - Yoshita - explained how she knew Sanosuke, before reassuring that he wouldn't be going anywhere. The woman's voice was quiet so as not to wake him from his slumber. Yoshita seemed to really care for Sanosuke, if the way she was petting him behind the ears was any indication. It made something stir inside Ame's stomach at the sight. Something a little like nostalgia. She pushed the feeling away. Yoshita then showed them to the kitchen, determined to help Kameko with her bruise. Ame watched as the woman rummaged for something, pulling out a container of an ointment like substance. She popped open the lid and beckoned Kameko over. The silver-haired girl would have to bend down for Yoshita to reach her properly. 

The old woman laughed, gave a peace sign, and went off to seemingly prepare food for them. Ame admitted that the woman was definitely very nice, if a bit lively. Ame followed her with her eyes, folding her arms to ease a bit of the awkwardness of just standing there in the woman's kitchen. She noticed many crayon drawing taped across the fridge door. Yoshita seemed to follow her gaze and went on to explain her history with Sanosuke. Ame listened quietly, sympathy for the old woman welling up in the back of her throat. She had half a mind to just apologize for intruding and being a nuisance before leaving. She swalled the thought and let Yoshita go on, the woman placing utensils, the plates and a cup of tea in front of each of the girls. Ame tentatively reached down and took a sip of hers as the woman continued to reminisce. Ame had a hard time picturing Sano as anything but his boisterous self, but even Ame had once been a loud overbearing child and look at her now, barely uttering a word. 

The woman went to the fridge, grabbed a drawing and came and sat with them as they ate and drank. The picture itself was cute, showing a smaller Sanosuke holding hands with a purple- and grey-haired woman from the peak of what was probably sky point. Childish rainbows splashed the background with colour. The woman sounded slightly sad in her recollection. It was a loevly story though, and after the drawing had been passed around Yoshita moved to take a hand of each girl. Her words were firm and a little pleading and Ame nodded. "Of course." Yoshita then went on to regale them with tales of Sanosuke's childhood mishaps, followed by her own life story. Ame would not be proud to admit that she may have daydreamed a little in between bites of the lovely dumplings, but then she wouldn't admit to that. She just had a bad tendency to do so. She could hide it quite well now, nodded and laughing at the right moments.

Ame registered her sensei's completely calm voice before it stopped abruptly. He seemed to have realised she and Kameko were there. "Oh hello sensei." Ame's voice was chipper and she even waved to him. Sanosuke laughed awkwardly, giving up before things got out of hand. Before Ame knew it Yoshita - the woman she had taken as sweet and calm - was up and had Sanosuke in a headlock, berating him for causing Kameko's wound. Ame's smile widened into a grin and she laughed. "You should have expected your sins to catch up with you eventually, sensei. We win." Ame took another sip of her tea, a warm feeling in her chest. It felt strange to be in this situation. It was, for lack of a better word, nice.

Ame found she didn't mind thinking of it as family at all.

---

Words: 1243 ~ 5675

The glance at Ameryuu had revealed that, thankfully, her teammate had gone along with her tale, adopting the look of a victim, even adding a little hitch in her voice to up the believability. Kameko was planning this as she went along, playing off the cuff, and although she showed no sign of it, she was relieved when the old woman seemed to buy their tale and invited them in. She gave a little sniffle as a reply to her concern over those boys, wiping at the wetness in her eyes as though she were embarrassed to be showing such emotion. After offering Ameryuu a friendly little squeeze around the shoulders to communicate ‘good job’, Kameko dropped her arm back down to her side and led the way into the little house as the woman ushered them in. Only able to sense the old woman and the Raikage within, she was fairly confident that there was nothing untoward going on, but she had made sure to precede her teammate, just in case. As with making their way down the mountainside, she had directed them towards this course of action, and if her decision was a mistake, she did not want her misjudgment to fall upon her cousin’s shoulders.

The first thing her senses took in was the aroma of cinnamon and tasty dumplings, and she was reminded that it was about dinnertime. Believing that her sensei was often led by his stomach before anything else, she had a strong suspicion that he had come here to sample some of the old woman’s tasty cooking. Then, when the granny led them into her tidy living room, she spotted Sanosuke, still in his cat form, taking a little nap under a pretty hand-knit blanket, likely made by the granny herself. The doubts that she had that the kindly old woman might not be aware that the kitty she was caring for was the Raikage were soon dispelled as she guessed the reason for their visit without any prompting.

Kameko was a little concerned at first that Yoshita would be upset with them for their fib, but it seemed that she was just delighted to meet Sanosuke’s students. The flicker of disquiet over deceiving a sweet old lady disappeared along with her concerns. Clearly, San-chan was a frequent visitor  and a more than welcome one; it seemed that their ‘mission’ to catch their sensei was over. While she wasn’t sure that they could have actually managed to capture him otherwise, it was a bit disappointing to have victory essentially handed to them because he had decided to take on a habit of his henge and indulge in a catnap. ‘A win is a win,’ she reminded herself. Relaxing, Kameko smiled at the granny. “My name’s Kameko,” she introduced herself in a hushed tone to match Yoshita’s, having already supplied Ame’s name when she was spinning her tale. “And I don’t know about Ame, but I am!” She replied to Yoshita’s assumption of their appetites. “Based on our merry chase around Kumo today, Flynt-sama must have gotten himself into all sorts of mischief when he was younger.”

She trailed Yoshita into the kitchen, her mouth automatically starting to water as she got closer to the source of that incredibly appetizing aroma. When the old woman got out a little jar of ointment, Kameko helpfully bent over, holding her black hair back and out of the woman’s way. Those wrinkled fingers were as gentle as a butterly landing on her cheek as they spread the cool ointment over the bruise. “Thank you, Yoshita-san,” she said as she straightened again. When Yoshita flashed her a peace sign, Kameko suspected that she now knew where Sanosuke had picked up the little gesture from. While the granny bustled around the kitchen, preparing dinner for the pair, Kameko found her eyes drawn to the picture covered fridge, taking in the sweet, childish drawings covering it, full of stick figures and rainbows.

Yoshita began to reminisce while setting the table, and Kameko was more than happy to humor her, for she wasn't only listening out of courtesy. It was interesting to hear about this other side of her boisterous sensei and sweet to hear her describe their relationship; it was as though he had taken the place of a child that she had never had. When she set the plates of dumplings in front of the glasses of tea, Kameko thanked her and took a seat and began to help herself to the delicious meal, comfortable in the woman’s warm reception; she found that she felt more comfortable over all as a warmth had spread over the area that the ointment had been spread in, erasing the previously ever-present ache of the bruise.

“You must be so proud of all he’s achieved,” she said as she accepted the sweet little drawing. It depicted Sky Point, the skyline filled with vibrant rainbows, a child Sanosuke holding hands with a much younger Yoshita, one who still had bright purple hair instead of the silver that she had now; both of them had big smiles on their faces. The picture was full of innocence and reminded her of how children would draw themselves holding hands with their parents, prompting her make assumptions that Yoshita had taken the role of a stand-in mother for the young Sanosuke. It explained why Yoshita was so happy to have the girls show up on her doorstep, perhaps she thought of them almost like grand-children. ‘I wonder if Flynt-sama planned this on purpose. Brought the two of us home so he could show us off to Yoshita-san, just like he did with his drawings back then,’ she considered as she handed the picture back to the old woman.

Yoshita accepted it and set it down on the table in front of her. Taking both of their hands, she kept a kindly smile, but she seemed more serious as she urged them to take care of her Sanosuke. “I’ll do my best,” she solemnly reassured the granny. They all knew that asking a couple of students to protect the Raikage was a bit silly, but in that moment, the practicality of it didn’t really matter. It was the sentiment that counted, and if she could offer such a thing to a sweet, lonely granny, she would not hesitate to do so. Despite his abandoning her in a mob that very day, she was very fond of her sensei. Did that mean that she wouldn’t pay him back for his tricks one day? Of course not, but she would do all that she could to keep him from getting himself into something more serious than a couple upset boyfriends. One day, she hoped that she would be strong enough to truly protect him and all whom she held dear.

Yoshita, apparently content with their agreements, lightened the mood by launching into a story about a dog that ate a necklace of hers, and Sanosuke’s weekend long hunt for the culprit. Kameko laughed as she described how he had tracked the dog all over the mountain, determined to get the necklace back. Passing the time in that manner, Kameko enjoyed a pleasant meal. She had no need to supply much to the conversation besides a comment here and there, but she was happy to let the old woman share her stories. The stories likely would have continued well into the evening hours if Sanosuke’s voice hadn’t floated up from where he padded into the kitchen. Yoshita paused in her story, and they all looked at the little black cat. Kameko added, “Well, good morning, sleep head,” to Ameryuu’s greeting. Her voice contrasted with Ame’s chipper tone for, while there was a little smile on her face, her tone and those blue eyes showed that, although the ache of the still visible bruise had faded, she had not forgotten his little stunt from earlier.

He tried to laugh it off and turned to Yoshita to complain about her not waking him, but apparently, she was not interested in listening to anything he had to say at that moment. Before Kameko had noticed the granny getting up, she was looming over the cat and grabbed him up in a headlock. Surprisingly strong for one who looked so frail, she knocked him out of his henge and back into his normal shape… Which made the fact that this little old lady had the muscular, over six feet tall Raikage in a headlock all the more funny. She couldn’t help herself but laugh at the absurdity of it along with her cousin. Looking at the girl and then back at the young man and the old woman, she felt a strange touch of nostalgia. ‘This is one moment I’ll never want to forget.’

That was the power of old lady Yoshita; she may look small and frail, but she definitely held the belief of don't judge a book by its cover. It was already too late to react as she reached around his neck and put him in a rather tight headlock. It left him gasping for air and his arms spamming outwards in an attempt to gain oxygen in his body. He was so focused on him breathing that he no longer couldn't focus on his henge thus knocking him out of it and back into his regular form. Her question was true enough, she was definitely someone that frowned upon Sanosuke's shenanigans. Especially if it would harm a little girl like Kameko. When she asked the question, Sanosuke was patting her arm to let her know that he was tapping out. His face was turning blue in the face from how tight she was holding him. This grip of hers was 10 times tighter than Gin could ever put him in. Finally her gripped slackened after a while and let the Raikage gather his bearings. His face gradually turning from blue, purple, red and finally back to his regualr dark skin color. Sweat was dripping down his face as he was rubbing his neck. Looking up, he saw Yoshita before him with her arms crossed and her foot being tapped on the ground rather furiously.

Before he had a chance to speak, Sanosuke was smacked over the head with a frying pan to cause a rather large bump to grow on his head. The kage was rubbing the back of his head while looking at Yoshita confused at why she would still hit him. "Do you have anything to say to these girls of yours?" The old lady asked with an evil glint in her eyes as she clenched the frying pan tighter by the handles in her wrinkly, small hands. At this point it was pointless for him to argue with the woman who literally saw him grow up into the man he is today. Sanosuke looked down on the ground and bowed his head gingerly to Kameko and Ameryuu. "I am sorry for the trouble I caused the both of you." This was embarassing. It was just like the time when he was in the academy and got in trouble with his neighbor after a game of stickball ended with the ball going through a window. The same thing happened: Yoshita put Sanosuke in a headlock, he was hit over the head with a frying pan, and finally made to apologize. Now he was doing the same thing to his students. True his training he did might have been a bit harsh, however for karma to come back and get him like this was surreal.

After Yoshita was pleased with the apology, Sanosuke stood up and was rubbing his head to sooth the pain that was coming from the bump on his head. He didn't plan for the girls to find him so quickly. In fact he got too cocky of his own abilities and underestimated the girls' tracking abilities to not think they would find him so soon. He thought he would have made enough time for him to come by here, sleep and find the girls. But then again it was foolish for him to count on Yoshita to wake him up at a certain time as she's more of a live life in the now and not worry about the future kind of person. So Sanosuke couldn't blame her for the girls coming over. "Well with the training over, I guess I'll have to take you both to Yoshida's." Sanosuke said while shrugging both of his shoulders nonchalantly. He didn't think he would be spending so much money on the two of them, but it wouldn't matter as they did do the point of this exercise: which was to work together as a team. Then Sanosuke was struck over the head with another blow from the frying pan to cause another bump to appear.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"San-chan! You're not going to invite me? I can't believe you would do such a thing to an elderly woman like myself. I've always wanted to got to Yoshidas."

"Then why didn't you just ask?"

"Because I'm an old woman without much time life. I want to be swept off my feet and taken out to see the sights on a moments notice. How can you be so inconsiderate San-chan? And if you're like that with me then..then....HOW WILL YOU EVER FIND A DECENT WOMAN?!!" Her voice was straining and turning into obviously fake tears to someone that wasn't Sanosuke, but to him he was worked up with how furiously she was crying. It was enough for her to drop the frying pan she was holding previously on the ground and put her face into her hands. Sanosuke didn't know what to do besides look flabbergasted. He was never this toungue  tied like this since the first time he talked to a girl when he was 14.

"Fine! You can come with us!" Sanosuke finally said to get her to stop crying.

Just like that, Sanosuke's worst fears came true and Yoshita picked her face up to wipe her face from the fake tears she shed. Damn I was played. "Oh fun! I'll get my purse and be ready in a few minutes lovelies." With that she walked over to Sanosuke who knew what she wanted to do now. He bent low on the ground so her short figure can come and pat him on the head. She turned to the girls and held both of their hands briefly before walking into her room to get herself situated. Sanosuke let out a sigh and looked at both of the girls that were most likely getting a show from this. It just had to happen like this. Now all cool points he gathered from the girls were wiped clean. As they waited, Sanosuke would ignore the comments the girls might throw his way. He will have his revenge the next day for training but in the meantime it was their victory. Once Yoshita came out with her purse, the 4 of them would make their way to the restaurant where they would eat out. However he hoped that one server that Sanosuke met when he had lunch with Kameko and slept with the following night wouldn't be there. Kami knew that would spell disaster once Yoshita figured this out. This was going to be a long night...
(Thread Exit)

Ame watched as Sano and Lady Yoshita bickered. It seemed to be a rather intense but very playful argument, at least from Ame's eyes. As soon as it looked as if the old woman was done being angry and had let Sanosuke go a frying pan came out of nowhere and whacked him over the head. the Raikage almost seemed to whimper. He looked affronted at the fact that Yoshita had dared to injure him was a kitchen tool. The old woman remained stubborn, however, and asked the Raikage exactly what he planned to say to Kameko and herself. Sanosuke apologized, albeit slightly reluctantly. It looked plenty embarrassing from where she was sitting. He seemed to resign himself to the fact that the two Ryuzoji girls had won the little game. Before he had a chance to even get past telling them as much, the frying pan made a repeat performance and slammed down against Sano's head once again.

This time Ame didn't bother containing her amusement. She let out a light chuckle, mouth stretched wide in her smile. Yoshita made it plain and clear that she wasn't going to stand for being left behind that evening. She was coming along whether Sanosuke liked it or not. The old lady went from sad and heartbroken to happy in no time flat. Once Yoshita had left the room Sano turned to the two girls. He seemed to be a little pouty about the complete loss of cool she had just witnessed. Ame didn't comment, but the victorious smile on her face gave away her feelings on the matter. Whenever it was that Yoshita returned with purse in hand Ame would be ready to go. Chasing cat-suke around had made her work up quite an appetite. From her sensei's face she could tell that he was dreading the dinner just a bit.

Ame laughed. It had ended up being a good first meeting. At least from her perspective.

---

Words: 333 ~ 6008

Kameko was a bit surprised when the grannie pulled out a frying pan and whacked Sanosuke upside the head with it, but she was not about to get in-between Yoshita and her target. Besides, she was sure that Sano’s skull was thick enough to take a hit without cracking. The old lady actually got him to apologize, another surprise, and Kameko accepted it with a solemn incline of her head. She did not say that she forgave him, for she would still be looking for a way to get him back, if she ever caught their clever sensei off-guard.  She let go of her pseudo-serious expression, grinning as Sanosuke mentioned Yoshida’s; apparently he intended to make good on his promise to take them to one of Kameko’s favorite restaurants.

She laughed along with her cousin as the old lady raised another bump on Sanosuke’s head. The pair bickered back and forth, concluding with Yoshita letting lose big, ol’ crocodile tears. Their sensei looked like he was, for once, at a loss for words. When he finally summoned his power of speed once more, he reluctantly agreed to let the grannie join them, and her tears disappeared with the ease of her just wiping them away, making it clear that they were only a ploy. Though her amusement at his predicament, which was justified in her eyes due to his earlier behavior, was clear on her face, she didn’t make any comment to rub it in. Setting aside the fact that she was not someone to gloat over someone’s ‘loss’, she also had a sneaking suspicion that any sign of poor sportsmanship would result in Yoshita visiting the same punishment upon her own noggin; Kameko wasn’t so sure that her skull was hard enough to survive such a blow.

When Yoshita re-joined them, Kameko cheerily joined the others in making their way to the restaurant. Her bruise was no longer bothering her, and if she had a mirror, she would notice that the rainbow was already facing from her cheekbone; she sensed that Ameryuu and she would get along well, and they were successful in their first training session. All in all, it was a good day…. But man, was she tired! Although chatty during dinner, after her belly was full of tasty food, Kameko would get quieter and quieter as she had to work to keep from falling asleep at the table. Having only arrived in Kumogakure that morning and having raced around town all afternoon, she was worn out. Once the meal was complete, she would head straight home and collapse contentedly into her own comfortable bed.