It was a windy day in Konohagakure. Leaves were tossed about, dust was kicked up in lazy, miniature cyclones, and birds struggled to stay aloft. Some children, still too young to be in the academy, scampered here and there, playing games of Ninja vs Nuke-nin and others. Zinan's mouth was grimly set in a frown. Their innocence irritated him. He had no such blissful youth. No child wanted to play with a freak who shot webs from his arms. Zinan snorted with laughter when a kid tripped and fell into the dust.

When the youngster started crying, Zinan leapt into the trees and headed about his way, through the branches and over rooftops. He was taking a break in his training to grab some lunch, webwork was tiresome after all. He idly checked his various pockets for his weapons. Three shuriken and a kunai. That's all he had; well that and his clan's alienating kekkei genkai.

Zinan paused for a moment when his destination finally came in sight. The famed Ichiraku Ramen Shop. Not seeing anything too suspicious, other than the lack of four legged animals, Zinan dropped down to the street below. He could feel his web glands shudder with the impact; the small amount of web, inside them, shifted. He idly scratched near the web gland on his left arm as he walked into the shop. He sat down on a stool as the man behind the counter approached him. "I'll take a bowl of beef ramen," Zinan growled out. The man nodded with a smile and turned to prepare the food. The shinobi scanned the places around him, always watching, always expecting an attack.

He sensed someone approach and his hand reached to the pocket near his backside. Zinan played it off like he was scratching his back, but in truth, his hand slipped into the pocket. He palmed a shuriken, which shielded it from view, and continued to act casual. Zinan smiled at the man behind the counter and dropped his head slightly, as he tried to look past his shoulder and under the flaps of the shop.

---

WC: 357
Total WC: 357

Strange looks and gazes didn't effect Vesta, as she skipped through the center of the town, twirling here and there. Konoha was such a beautiful place, and she was enjoying the land of fire's sunshine. The land of iron, wasn't exactly a war place, being right next to the land of snow that is. But, Vesta's past was in the past, and she was looking forwards now. Some bandits had picked a fight with her on the way to Konoha, and so looting their bodies granted her some spending money while she would be in Konoha. More stares. She sure did seem out of place. Although she couldn't see why with all of the kids playing around her, and such. Maybe it was her green and black, almost militarist uniform. It certainly had that effect of throwing people off. But, not like it bugged her much. She wasn't really one to care what people thought of her. That was of course in contrast to her negative self image. But, she wasn't one to let that show much either.

Vesta stopped skipping down the street, and decided to take a break, and maybe catch some sights. By that she might she should probably actually begin to do some work around here. Crimes weren't going to do themselves, and she had a reputation to build for herself. Granted she needed all of the objects to get her plan along, so for now her task was to gather some info on konoha. With that in mind she easily hopped into a tree, and perched there, swinging her legs and keeping her keen eyes out for anything that might peak her interest. It wasn't long until something caught her eye. A man in black clothing with black hair just standing there watching some kids play. This peaked Vesta's interest a little and decided that she would watch him. After a few moments, a kid feel, and he laughed and then lept away. During the small time in his movements into the tree next to the one she was sitting in, she caught a glimpse of something shiny around his waste. Vesta knew what that was immediately. His konohagakure Headband. She grinned. This would be a perfect kick off to her plan. she followed him. Not too far close that she would be detected however. Then he slowed down in front of the infamous Ichiraku Ramen shop, and went inside. Vesta let out a grin smile. She would have fun with her target before she even met him. She slowed down and went to the side of the building. Then she leaked a little killing intent. Just enough to make him know he was being watched. His reaction was classic. Definitely a genin. His hand instantly went into pocket, presumably where he kept his kunai and shuriken, seeing as how Vesta didn't spot a weapon pouch on him. Then he attempted a sly look over his right side. Vesta almost wanted to let out a sigh. He was definitely a underclass ninja. Now his whole left side was out of his vision, which allowed Vesta to silently slip into the seat next to him. She folded her hands properly, and then let out a small cough, enough to get the chiefs attention, and probably enough to scare the living shit out of the man she had followed her, seeing as how she slipped in when his vision was directed, and she couldn't imagine his senses were supreme in anyway seeing as how she had tested his senses when she followed him, and based on his actions when she released her killing intent, she would have know had she been spotted when she was tailing him. So she should have got in unnoticed. She then annouced "I'll take a Chicken Ramen, with the egg on the side please, oh and added pepper and salt." The chief simply nodded as he continued working on the man next to her's meal. She then leaned slightly closer to the man and whispered "Calm done there little ninja, I'm not here to hurt you. You won't need weapons to beat me. I'm not even a ninja." she said trying to hold back a giggle. He was almost certainly older than her, and he was definitely taller than her. So her calling him a little ninja, might have been taking it too far. But, her calling him out on his impulsive reliance on his weapons might be enough to keep him calm. Plus she threw in that she wasn't a ninja. Which might make him feel worse. That he was snuck up on by someone who wasn't even a trained Shinobi. Which was true for the most part. She had never been officially trained as a shinobi. Her lack of a headband would signify that. But, she knew she could easily pass the exams if she wanted too. She just didn't care for being tied down to one village. She would now wait to see how the man reacted. If things got heated though, she was fortunate enough that villages were like mass graves. Given how many fights, and how long they have been standing. There were bodies littered everywhere under the ground. And, it wouldn't take much to bring them back up if she needed too.

---

WC:907
Total WC:907

Truth is, Zinan had felt someone approach him, but that was not what the shuriken was for. He smiled slightly as girl slipped into the seat next to him and coughed, as if she caught him off guard. He could feel the webs develop more in his web glands, which were hidden for view by his large cloak. "That would be around six meters now..." Zinan thought absently. He had been trained to keep track of the amount of web that he produced, despite whatever distractions presented himself. His old man used to harp on him and would crow about: "A Kumonosu is only as good as his web," and blah blah blah. Zinan was jealous. The clan's spiders did not bond to him well at all....

The girl ordered her food and talked to him as if he were a witless academy student. She did, somehow, manage to slip by him and into the shop, but she was not very well hidden. Zinan thought it was intentional. Regardless, he did not put away the shuriken; it, indeed, was not for her.

A rat scampered around the corner of the building and slipped under the overhang. With a flick of his wrist, Zinan launched the star and impaled the rat to the way with a sick crunch and a thud. The man behind the counter paused momentarily and looked at Zinan and then at the dangling, dying rat, and then back to the Leaf shinobi. "You should keep traps around your restaurant, old man," Zinan snarled, his eyes flashed with anger. It was revolting to see rats lurking around the place that one was about to dine in. He shook his head and turned back to the girl who attempted to surprise him.

She thought it was humorous to antagonize him and try to get a rile out him. Zinan may not have known who this person was, but she, somehow, knew how to press his buttons. His jaw set back and his brows furrowed; a deep scowl settled into his features. His eyes scanned over her. This young lady was small. Zinan could tell, even while sitting, or maybe because they were sitting, that this girl was shorter and leaner than he. She had purple hair, which settled over a green and black uniform. His eyes couldn't pick up the tell-tale shimmer of a hitai-ate. Whoever she was, she either had not graduated the academy yet, or she was not part of a village.

Zinan's inspection of the girl was interrupted when the Ramen man reached over the counter with a bowl of beef ramen. The shinobi nodded in thanks, picked up and broke apart a pair of chop sticks. His first bite was slurped and delicious. Zinan separated himself from his noodles and eyed the girl from the side of his eyes. "What do you want?"

The shinobi was always suspicious of people who wanted to talk to him. Most people in the village would recognize him as "one of the spider people" or a "web freak," and would ignore him. He did not mind, as he did not like to be a part of a group. He'd rather sit back and watch, sit back and plan.

---

WC: 556
Total WC: 913

Silence, after Vesta spoke. However the man  seemed to still have his hand in his pocket. The either meant he was mad at her comment, or  he was going to to use the shuriken for something else. Didn't matter to vesta in all honesty.  She heard a rat screech in the background behind her, followed by a thump, which she could only assume was that very shuriken being used to end that rat's life. "You should keep traps around your restaurant, old man," Vesta couldn't help but giggle. He did have quite a temper on him. And, there were far worse things he could have wandering around his shop. It crossed vesta's mind to give him a display of said things. But, she figured she would hold off on that for until another time. She didn't feel like making a scene, what, with undead rats running around. that would certainly bring attention to her, which, at the moment, was unwanted attention. For now she would just be attempting to acquire information on the man. Although she wasn't entirely sure that he had a lot of valuable information to offer. That was the problem with secrets. The more and high quality ones you had, the better you were at keeping them.

Vesta could easily feel the man's eyes looking over her, and the scorn on his face was easy to see as well. Even out of the corner of her eye. "jeez, if you are going to look at me like that, at least buy me some dinner first." she said with a small giggle. This entire time she had done nothing but look forwards, and she was sure that that was juts as antagonizing as everything else she said. She wouldn't even look him in the eyes as she poked and prodded. She didn't even know why she was teasing him this much. Maybe because it was fun? and he sure did make it easy.

The man's attenton was turned forwards as his dinner was served. the chief simply nodded to Vesta and said " i'll get you next little missy." she gave him a smile and said "oh. no worry. quality food is worth the wait." The chief cracked a smile and turned back to do his work. he obviously enjoyed having his work complimented. But then again, who didn't? It was always nice to recieve heartfelt compliments. There were just some people who took them too far. Not that that bothered Vesta, she figured that people knew if you pressed on something too hard, it was bound to recoil back at you. In most people's cases it simply ended up a broken nose, or missing teeth, there were a few though that were no longer around today because of some words they said in the word direction, but  Vesta figured that they knew what punishments their actions could entail and so when they said those words, they gladly accepted those punishments. Vesta's train of though was cut off by the man beside he speaking.

"What do you want?" For the first time since she got here, she turn to face him, and she batted her eyelashes as she did so. then she giggled once more and said in a softer voice than she had been using this entire time "Hmm? is it wrong for a lonely girl to want some company from a shinobi like yourself?" she asked, and gave him a smile. She wasn't really interested in the man, but teasing him was getting her no where, and so she figured she might pull some info on the village if she flirted up a storm. Besides most men thought with their lower heads anyways. This is why if Vesta ever settled down, not likely, she would marry a female. Much more level headed. Granted females posed problems of their own, but it was still more managable than most males Vesta had dealt with. After she looked at him for a few seconds longer, the chief placed her bowl in front of her with the egg on the side as request. she turned back to facing forwards and eat a little bit of her noodles. Then she said "Mmm Delicious! Thank you!" the chief giggled and said it was no problem, and Vesta reached into her boots and puled out some ryo to pay for the food, with a little extra for a tip. She wasn't planning to dine and dash on this one, and so she always payed when she made sure her food was good, that way in case she just left, she wouldn't get in trouble because she had already payed. She then took another bite of noodles, and turn back to the man. "So. Don't leave a girl just sitting here. Tell me about yourself. What do you all important ninjas like to do. What sort of jutsu can you do? Are you any good at what you do? What rank are you?... a girl need details you know... and besides sitting here having you make googly eyes at me in silence isn't all that comfortable." she said with a smile and looking at him batting her eye lashes once more. She had been told several times by many men, that she was very pretty. Personally she didn't see it at all, but she was hoping that she could use what other people saw in her to her advantage here.

---

WC: 925
Total WC: 1833

This girl giggled. Giggled. At him. It pissed him off. Zinan fumed at the girl when she spoke to the chef. That's why he was so brusque with her when he posed his question. He had ignored her snip about buying her meal for her. Why would he do a thing like that? This strange girl appears out of nowhere, one that he didn't recognize, and teases him about a hypothetical date that would never come into fruition.

He didn't know too many of the village's important secrets. However, what he did know could be dangerous. He knew locations and key personnel. While Zinan didn't explicitly suspect this girl as being a spy or anything of that sort, he was always cautious about what he let slip; though his quick temper made it difficult to keep his lips sealed at times. Normally, his team was able to help control his tongue; mostly by not letting him speak to people.

When this girl prattled on about having the company of a shinobi, Zinan snarled. Her flirty nature was wearing on his short fuse. It was grating for a loner, like Zinan, to be shown an exorbitant amount of affection that was clearly forced. She had her food now and paid for it. That was probably a smart thing, seeing as a shinobi could be called away at any moment. Zinan reached down to his belt and pulled out some ryo from the little pocket that was hidden and protected by his hitai-ate. He set the money on the counter and nodded to the chef.

Then the torrent of questions poured out of the girl like diarrhea of the mouth. It was awful and made Zinan angry. He turned back to the girl, eyes flashing full of anger. Every time she batted her eyelids, the shinobi could feel his ire grow more and more. Her questions solidified Zinan's suspicion that this girl was talking to him with the point of getting information out of him. Out of spite, he decided to go along with it. But, with extremely wild answers. "Well, I'm on a special team of ninjas that seek out spies that infiltrate the village with the intent of stealing information for unwitting shinobi." He forced a smile at the girl. "My jutsu is perfect for the job. I can force someone who has ill-intent towards the village to toss themselves off of the cliff there." Zinan thumbed back towards the familiar cliff face with the faces carved it in. "As for my rank, however, I can't tell you, exactly. But I am high up there. I chum around with the Hokage quite frequently. I know all of the juicy details about the village." He forced another smile, before dropping it and turning back to his ramen. He grabbed a piece of beef with his chopsticks and tossed it into his mouth. A dribble of the soup ran, slowly, down his chin. Zinan grabbed a napkin and politely dabbed it off his his skin, his bushy, black eyebrows furrowing in the process.

He turned back to the girl. "So, who are you? Where are from, and why are you here?" If she was going to harass him with questions, he was going to do the same. However, just the same as he, Zinan expected the girl to give him false answers. But, he planned on taking a mental note of the girl and her appearance for later usage. He'd have to sketch an image of her and give it to his sensei.

---

WC: 602
Total WC: 1515