Just another routine C-rank mission, Ame. Nothing to worry about.

Ame slung her katana around her back and it slid into its sheath easily. She was readying herself for another mission. Nothing major, no killing involved. All she had to do was find and detain some random drunkard who was stupid enough to assault innocent people. The complaints had started becoming a lot of trouble, and most of the victims were random civilians who couldn’t defend themselves. Ame tried to remember the guy’s name. What was it? Z-something. Oh yes, Zahn. She personally found people like that disgusting. Picking fights for no reason but to make himself feel better. Ame huffed and picked up her headband, tying it around her forehead and slipping into her boots. She scrawled a quick note to her mother and left in on her desk before heading out.

The city was set to be dark that evening, due to the thick cloud cover obscuring the stars and the moon from view. However the street lights illuminated things well enough, and Ame could see everything she needed to see. The mission briefing had been vague, not giving her any particular place to start looking for the guy. No usual haunts as such. The only thing that had really been noted was that he had a grotesque birthmark covering him from neck to collar bone. It wasn’t much to go on. She’d never met the guy, so trying to track him by electrical signal was pointless – she’d probably end up looking around for ages and end up wasting a lot of chakra.

Ame huffed, deciding that good old asking around was the only way to find this guy. She leapt from her perch on an apartment building roof and landed in a side alley, hurrying into the main street. She wasn’t sure how long she wandered a little aimlessly, before ducking into the nearest doorway and finding herself in a bar. The place was stuffy and dim. It was fairly full though, and in the more restaurant-like part of the room she could see a few different families eating dinner. Ame moved that way and grabbed a seat, picking up a menu and scanning it half-heartedly. The waitress came up to her soon and took her order – just a glass of lemonade – before rushing off to the next table.

Ame scanned the room, wondering if she was ever going to find this guy, when one of the people sitting at the bar got up, drink in hand and started shouting at the bartender. Ame lifted her head a bit, trying to get a clearer look at the guy. He could be who she was looking for, or just another random drunk who had nothing better to do with their life. “HEY! I SAID I WANTED MORE BEER! YOU CAN’T CUT ME OFF!” Whoever he was, he started to shake the bartender, chucking his glass behind him so that it smashed against the wall. The bartender looked terrified, pleading with the drunk to let him go. Ame got up and crossed the room swiftly, setting an arm on the man’s shoulder so that he turned around.

The description fit the guy well. He was only an inch or two taller than Ame, and the scar really was as she had imagined. He couldn’t have been very old, but the top of his head was already balding. The man seemed shocked to see her and dropped the bartender, who scrambled backwards shouting ‘thank you’ to her. Zahn now glared at her, hands ready to make a grab for the front of her jacket and hoist her up as he had done to the bartender, but he seemed to catch sight of her headband before that and stopped. “Excuse me, but you are Zahn, correct?” Ame remained straight faced.

“Who the hell are you?!” He roughly pulled away from her, nearly slapping her in the face. Ame sighed, wondering how she always got stuck with these sorts of missions.

“I asked you a question first. I’m here to take you to Athos’ Keep until your trial. You’ve been accused of public violence and harming civilians. Now please, can I just take you up there without any protest?  It’s been a long night.” Ame didn’t expect him to say yes of course, so she casually moved one hand to the back of her neck, as if massaging sore muscles. Zahn didn’t seem to get the memo, and subsequently launched himself at her, making the other patrons gasp and begin muttering to one another. Ame moved backwards to avoid him, letting his own momentum get the best of him and throw him off balance. To her surprise he caught himself and turned to her again, this time with a curled fist ready to knock her out. Hand already gripping the hilt of her katana, Ame pulled the blade from it’s sheath and moved it to block the strike. As Zahn’s fist collided with the metal Ame felt herself shudder a little under the force. It seemed the guy was strong.

He let out a long string of curses at the pain of punching metal, sucking on his knuckles as if that would ward of the pain. The next blow to her was a kick, though poorly aimed and timed due to his previous injury so it was easy for Ame to dodge it. She moved behind Zahn as he tried to spin to attack her again and pressed her katana to his throat. He locked up, exhaling loudly as the rest of the room gasped in surprise. Ame levelled an annoyed stare at the man and tsked. “Okay, you’ve got a choice now, Zahn. Either you come quietly, or I slit your throat. Which do you prefer?” His eyes widened comically and Ame supressed a wry smile. “I- I’ll go quietly.” He gritted his teeth, upset at his wounded pride. Ame smiled and moved her blade, but didn’t sheath it again. “Come on then. It’s time you get what’s coming to you.”

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