He had been up all night, researching something that had caught his eye; a skill that the ninja of other villages used to great effect for a variety of tasks; something called 'Kyuujutsu', or Bow Techniques. From what Drake could gather, these techniques fell under the broad umbrella of Bukijutsu, and as such were employed in the same fashion as Kenjutsu, not typically requiring chakra and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the Kenjutsu employed the usage of swords, both with and without special effects; where as Kyuujutsu was more concerned with firing a bow from range. There was a small section on close ranged archery, as well as one on a strange weapon called an arrowgun. An interesting read, if he did say so himself.

Closing the book, Drake sat back and stretched his arms and legs, attempting to work out the stiffness that built up during his reading. A quick glance at the clock would read 2:40 am; had he really been engrossed in his book for over two hours? He had only meant to read a little and wind down before he went to sleep, but given the time, it seemed that sleep was not going to happen tonight. A light snore from his bed would cause him to turn and look back. His latest conquest was peacefully asleep; a young stripper by the name of Xio Mishima. The male had worked in the Golden Horn for several months before this point, something that he had never planned for more than a week or two. When Drake came in for a small celebration that had turned into a night drinking, with the young stripper betting the blue devil he could drink him under the table. Not one to turn down a wager, the blue devil accepted, and then proceeded to show Xio exactly how it was done. By the end of the night, both were quite drunk and could barely stand up straight. Rather than let the young man walk home at that time of the night, Drake offered to let him stay at his hotel room for the night, as it was not far from the bar. Once home, one thing let to another and .. well... a satisfied Drake burned through the alcohol in his system while showing this young man exactly why he was top dog.

Perhaps it was time for a shower? Getting up from his desk, Drake stripped down to his small clothes and fetched a clean pair of underwear from a nearby drawer. Stepping into the adjoining bathroom, he turned on the hot water. He prefered his showers burning, and the bathroom to feel like a sauna. As the water began to heat, and the bathroom began to steam up, he could not help but think over what he'd been reading, mulling it over in his mind. While the prospects of genjutsu were indeed interesting, and he was indeed fascinated by it, it didn't seem like something he would use in battle. He was more of a 'hands on' type of guy. Maybe, he would be better off in learning how to handle a weapon to assist him in battle? Perhaps he would look into it someday.

After stripping off the last of his clothes and ducking under the water, the male could not help but groan softly as the dirt, grime and the scent of sex was scalded off his body. Reaching for the soap, he lathered his body before proceeding to scrub the remaining traces of the scent of sex from his skin. While he was particularly proud of his ability and stamina, he hated smelling like sex for an extended period, and so every inch of his body was scrubbed twice over. When he was satisfied that he was finally clean, Drake stepped out from under the water and grabbed a towel hanging nearby. As he dried himself off, he could not help but admire his body. For a man in his late teens, he still had the physique of a man in his mid twenties. He knew from expirence that he could pass as his father's younger brother; foreign diplomats often mistook him as a mere special jounin or messenger ninja, often leading to plenty of amusing situations when they disbelieved that the 'entirety of the Morgan Family's militaristic might was controlled by a mere child'. According to his personal doctor, his youthfulness was due to the power of his yang nature chakra, which apparently kept his body in top physical condition. He was going to complain; just another wonderful reason to be him.

Once he'd put on his undergarments, he stepped back into his bedroom to get dressed, the male would make his way over to his dresser, pulling out an A shirt and some pants. With this done, he would settle himself at his desk once more. He needed money, and lots of it. His goal was to purchase space within the Skyforge, or outright buy the Skyforge himself. He was fine with either, but had to be realistic. He needed a source of income, and that was the problem.

Deciding that his quest could better be handled on a full stomach, Drake stood up and headed into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast...

---

890 WC

Drake would smile as he turned away from the stove to fetch a plate from the cabinets for the breakfast omelet; he would set it on the plate, along with the now done biscuits, bacon and sausage. As he set the plate down on the dining table, he would pull a chair from underneath it, and almost sit down before he remembered the main part of his breakfast: Coffee. His normal breakfast of choice was often something... meatier. He much prefered steak and eggs, but he were currently out of steak. He would pick some up later from the market and eat then, given how it was only three Ante Meridiem. For the moment, however, he needed something to soothe the beginning of the headache that was forming.

The cabinet door was snatched open and the bottle of pain medicine was retrieved in an instant; a moment later and roughly six pills were popped into his mouth and chewed on noisily as he quickly made a plate of food for himself. Before he sat down to eat, there was something else for him to do. The cabinet was reopened and the the cansister that contained the coffee and filters was snatched out. A moment later, the packaging was ripped open, and the filter was placed into the container and filled with grounds. Turning, the male would take the carafe to the sink to fill with water, after which he would empty this into the water tank. Once he placed the carafe onto the hot plate, he would press the brew option to start the machine along on its process of making the other black gold.

Coffee was a dire necessity for Drake to function and pretend that he was a normal person; there was just no getting around this. Drake had once tried going with for a month without coffee, starting on a Monday morning. Five minutes later, the decision was already being regretted as he was contantly plauged by thoughts of beating the life out of several annoying diplomats; by Tuesday morning, he'd clubbed someone over the head with thier own walking stick, and on Wednesday he was locked up in his room for holding his elder brother at knife point and demanding coffee. Safe too say, he was given his coffee soon after, and quickly returned to pretending to be a normal person. From the expirience, he gathered that he desperately need coffee every morning, or else he was not to be held responsible for his actions.

With the black gold brewing in the coffee machine, he would take a seat at the table and retrieve his fork to start eating. After swallowing down the first mouthful and figuring it was going to take a few minutes for the coffee to percolate he decided to start on hashing some things out. He needed money, and fast. His mind began to wander drifting in thought. There was something on his mind, something that he wanted to try, but was unsure about how to go about it. He was thinking about the Casino he'd visited. The Golden Horn. It seemed that it was a profitable place, one that seemed to hide a few secrets; he wasn't sure about the village of Kumogakure and its laws, but the sale of certain drugs was illegal in most places, and he was positive he saw several of them being used as 'party favors' in the club. He'd also seen several of the 'entertainers', both male and female, being slipped extra money, then leading customers into a back room. They would emerge some time later, looking a bit disheveled; this would indicate a prostitution ring of some sorts. Hell, him coming home with Xio was certain proof of this, as he had to slip the male a bit of cash before he agreed to come, despite him being shitfaced.

Prostitution was easy cash; the money was hard to trace as it was not regulated, same with the drugs. He doubted that the Casino had it self a lab to make its own stuff, so they would have to have a supplier somewhere, more than likely close by and on call to keep the party favors rolling through out the night. With a supplier like that, the owner was bound to have connections to others. If what Drake wanted to do was going to succeed, he would have to do some serious convincing. But f*ck, it would be worth it. The club had to pull in a few hundred thousand ryo a night, at the very least off the workers dancing and liquor sales alone. Combine that with the other 'services' that they offered, he was sure they were sitting on a pretty penny.

Taking a moment to pull himself out of thought, Drake glanced over to the coffee machine, noticing that the pot was now full. He stood then and wandered over, grabbing down a coffee mugs – a big one, not a little tiny cup because they just didn't hold enough coffee in them to satisfy the young man. He also removed the creamer from the fridge and pulled out the sugar from the nearby cupboard along with spoons from the drawer; all of which he would set down on the table next to his plate. Yawning then, he added cream and sugar to his own coffee; a lot of both, and then added the coffee before giving it a good stir. He was in no rush; it was still early, and there was plenty of time for him to plan this and hash everything out down to the last detail, or as best he could.

As the male sipped at the smooth cup of coffe, he would begin making a mental list of some things that he would need. He still had money left over from renting this room for himself for two months; he would need some way to communicate with each the owner and potential customers, something that was secure from eavesdropping. The local merchantes often carried wireless radios, but those were cheaply made, and were prone to being intercepted. No, he would see a specialist and get some custom made for himself. He would also need fake documents to show proof of identification until he was able to get everything set up and running, and maybe some other supplies. Everything would be easy to get, once he could get tapped into the underground network that this village was bound to have.

---

1087 | 1977

Word seemed to travel fast in the underground; a shinobi looking to make some cash on the side doing whatever was asked of him, no questions asked. It was only a few short hours later that he had his first job, escorting what he suspected to be a prostitute on her way to a a client. While Drake was not one to purchase a woman of pleasure himself, he could see the appeal that some people had with them.

Before leaving his home, he checked to be sure he had everything on him; six knives were tucked away on his person, just waiting to be used if the need should arise. His upper body was clothed in dark fatigues covered by a black jacket. His lower half was clothed in fatigues as well, ended with combat boots. It was not his standard uniform, but something he put together himself using connections he'd obtained during his service in Kumofakure no Sato. It served its purpose very well.

He was supposed to pick this woman up by the name of Bella Star from a brothel in the red light district. While he did not know the area very well, it would not take him long to find the place; it was apparently one of the better known brothels, the Sand Box Strip Club. As he arrived, he could see a woman out front, arguing with someone in a purple suit and feathered cap.

"Don't you **** back talk me, bitch! I own you! Your last few turn in have been short. Where the frick is my money, Bella?"

"I am  sorry, daddy! I wont do it again, I swe-" Her sentence was cut off as the male struck her across the face with the back of his hand.

"Of course you not gon to do it again. You gon learn today, Bella!"

"No, Slick, no please!" It was then Drake decided to announce himself, seeing as this Slick guy was about to hit this woman again. He would cough rather loudly, brown eyes locked on the duo as Slick would stop mid-swing.

"The frick are you looking at? Whatchu want?"

Drake's face remained impassive, calmly watching the scene before him, before he responded. "I'm here for Bella. Someone here hired a bodyguard." His head nodded to the cowering woman. "This her?"

"Yea, this the bitch. You the guy they call Knight?"

"Mmhmm." A handle; it was not smart to give these kind of people his real name. His father was rather famous for his work in the military; it would be too easy to track him down if he'd given his real name. Plus, he did not need nor want word of what he was doing to get back to Maximillian.

"She knows where the client is; just get her there, make sure she gets paid, and get her back here. I'll have your cut waiting, plus a lap dance from one of the girls for your troubles." Slick spoke fast, shoving Bella towards Drake. "You better not try to short me again, bitch."

"You are too kind." Sarcasm, slathered thick across every word. Slick did not respond as Drake turned to leave, with Bella following close behind.

~~~ Several Minutes later ~~~

”Thanks for showing up when you did. He might have hit me again."

"...."

"He is not always like that, you know. He only does it when he's mad at something."

"....."

"But lately, it seems like he's always in a bad mood."

"So then why are you still working for him?"  A legit question. Drake had been listening to Bella complain about Slick for the past half hour since the had left the brothel. Everything was a repeating cascade of "Slick beat up Tamara" or "Slick is uspset that we are not getting more customers". From the way Bella was describing him, it seemed that this Slick guy was a pretty shitty person himself. And yet Bella, and all these other girls working for him, kept coming back to him, begging to do better and shit. And each time, Slick promised not to hit them anymore, and gave them a few days off before he was right back to being on their asses like white on rice.

This was literally the definition of insanity.

"Because.. I have no where else to go." Drake almost groaned. He could almost guess her next words, but it seemed that he would not have to, as she began to launch into her life story, much to his chagrin. It turned out that Bella was not even her real name, but rather Kida. Young Kida was apparently from the outskirts of Kirigakure no Sato, where she was the daughter of a merchant family. It seemed that her father ran into some financial troubles while she was young, so she had been sold into slavery. Said slaver sold her at some point to Slick, who began to pimp her out as one of his 'Exotic samples'. Given the fact that she was barely 18, she made him quite a bit of money.

Drake didnt reply to her story, but instead kept walking. He was begining to question where they were headed; Bella was leading them into one of the more upscale parts of Suna, home to an assortment of affluent businessmen and women. The neatly manicured lawns, trimmed hedges and such put him off a bit. He'd been sure that the client was probably some scrub who lived in some shit hole of an appartment in a worse neighborhood, but this.. this was intersting to know. It seemed that ther customers could possibly be highly influentual people, something he'd never considered before. "How much further, Bella?"

"We're almost there. Just a few more streets."

"Aight. Lets pick it up some. I got things I need to do later."

It would not take long for them to reach the house of the customer. Judging by his house, this dude had some serious paper. Fountains adorned the place, along with what Drake suspected were marble statues. As the duo strolled up to the front door, Drake paused for a moment, before stopping Bella.

"Hold up one sec. How does this work, exactly?"

"What do you mean, Knight?"

"Like... as far as the money goes. Do they pay you? Do they pay me? Is the cash up front, or is it done afterward?"

"Uhm... its either or, really. Depending on the customer, I tend to get my cash afterwards."

"Bet. We're gonna take the cash up front, just to be safe." Drake would nod then, confirming his decision, and then knock on the door to the home. The door would open to reveal a big muscle bound dude. "The frick do you want? Mr Yen does not hand out to pan handlers."

Drake tensed, unsure of how to proceed with this. Before he could say something, Bella stepped forward, offering the man a coy smile and a wink. "I'm just a lady looking for a good time." The guy nodded, stepping aside to let Bella in, but lifted his hand to prevent Drake from entering. "Relax, He is with me."

"Boss said only one person."

"I"m not going in without him. You can tell THAT to your boss."

"Listen here, bit--"

"Mac, let them in. Its fine."

Mac would step aside, revealing a portly, balding middle-aged man. "Donald Yen. Pleasure to meet you both." He would extend his hand to Drake who simply shook his head.

"Knight. And this here is Bella."

"What a lovely specimen she is.." Mr Yen would step closer to Bella, attempting to reach out and touch her before Drake held out his hand to block him off.

"Sorry man. No touching the girl until the price is right."

Mr Yen would frown some; it seemed as if he was not someone who was used to being told 'No'. Drake did not care in the least, and expressed that feeling through a cold stare.

"Fine. Two thousand ryo was the agreed upon price. Mac? Could you retrieve Mr. Knight's payment?" The bodyguard would step out the room for a moment, before stepping back in carrying a briefcase that he would hand to Drake. Two thousand ryo? Drake was only being paid 100 ryo for his time. As Drake took the briefcase and opened it for a look, Mr. Yen spoke again. "Its all there."

"Don't worry, I will make sure." His voice was low as he went through the money, quickly counting out the cash. Once he was satisfied everything was in order, he turned to Bella. "Say.. off the top of your head... How much do you make of these  little visits...?"

"About..two hundred Ryo. Why?"

"Just curious. Have a seat." As Bella moved and sat on the couch, Mr. Yen would begin to protest; Mac would start flexing muscule about this time, attempting to look threatening. Drake could not care less. Holding up his hands in a non-threatening manner, he would smile at them both before speaking. "Gentlemen, relax. Before you start to get upset over nothing, let me inform you of something: Thank you for your generous contribution. This girl will not be offering her services to you today. Good day."

Fury would cover Mr. Yen's face at that moment. Who the frick was this 'Knight' guy to say some shit like this to him? Did he knew who the frick Donald Yen was!? “The frick do you mean, she's not 'offering her services' today? I paid good **** money for this ****, and I want my money's worth. You either give me back my money before I have Mac here rip you a new asshole while I frick this bitch, or Mac here rips you a new asshole while I frick this bitch, then I bury you both in cement.”

Drake would turn his eyes to Donald, a small smile crossing his face while remaining unfazed by the threats. “Exactly what it sounds like, Mr. Yen. You are not getting laid today by Bella, and I am keeping the money. Lets go, Raq”

"Get him, Mac!" Oh dear, it seemed that someone was upset. Mac would then advance on him, arms swinging in an attempt to hit him. Drake would duck the first swing, and retaliate with a sharp punch into the bigger male's abdomen to double him over. As the big man kneeled down, his head was seized and smashed into Drake's rising knee, causing blood to spurt from his nose into the air.

"AAAAAAH!" Someone was screaming, and it was not Bella. Was that Mr.Yen? Drake didn't stop to look; Mac was still moving, holding the front of his face as blood poured from between  his fingers. As the man reeled back, Drake would waste no time slipping behind Mac, arms wrapping around his waist before he suplexed the larger man through a glass table. Mac would impact the table and the floor neck first, filling the air with a sickening crack. As Drake with drew himself from the crumpled body that was Mac, he looked up in time to see Mr. Yen stop screaming and go white with fear.

Dusting himself off, Drake turned to Bella, nodding to her. "Take the cash outside and wait for me. I'll be out in a few minutes."

There was no argument -- the chick knew how to take an order. Snatching up the briefcase, she did not even stop to look at Mr. Yen before bolting out the door. Making his way over to Yen, he smiled, producing a knife from one of the hidden pockets of his wardrobe.

"Please! Please. Don't do this! You dont have to kill me, Knight."

"Sorry Donald. This is not what I wanted; this is what it has to be."

A few minutes later, Drake stepped out the house, yawning and scratching his head. Down on the walk, Bella would look up at him, questioningly. "Come on, Bella. I got work to do."

"What about Do-"

"Don't worry about him. He's been taken care of." Drake reached out, and took the case from Bella, and began walking. They would be long gone before the house fully caught  aflame, just as Drake timed it. As the walked, Drake began to talk, much more than he had on thier way to Yen's. It was a long walk, and he had plenty to say.

"Alright, Bella. Here's the deal; as of right now, you work for me, ya dig? Whatever you take in, you give me forty percent."

"Thats all? What if I refuse?"

Drake snorted and rolled his eyes. "Then you can explain to Slick what happened to his money. I'm pretty sure he would love to hear that story. Judging by what you've been telling me about him all day, it probably will not go over well with him."

"Oh."

"Yea, OH. Now listen, because I'm only going to say this once: When we get back, you round up all the other workers in the brothel, and bail out. I'll give you my phone number and frequency in a second; you don't come back until I call you, got it?"

"What about Slick?"

"You let me worry about him."

---

2235 | 4212