Mission:

"This is ... humiliating." Mei-Mei's expression was twisted into a distressed sneer, seconds from becoming a full pout if the simpering tone of her voice was anything to go by. Her fingers were toying with the hem of the service apron she was wearing; her usual garb of bright reds, fur inlays and glittering jewels discarded in favor of ... a standard store uniform. It's not that it looked bad on her per se, but it wasn't exactly the general tone of aesthetic she tried to hit. No man caught dead would fall for her in this solid black ensemble, least of all helped by the green logo filling out the front.

The worst of it wasn't even the loss of her dress, or her boots, or gloves; it was her hair, federal shinobi laws requiring it be worn back in a ponytail. Or a bun, but she wasn't about to give any prospects that much of a look into her middle-aged future. She was in a huff, teeth gnashing down on her carefully candy-coated lips -- if she couldn't make herself noticeable through clothing, she might as well bring the rest of her appearance above par. She made it work for her, she digressed. This was the best she could do with this kind of a mess.

Her eyes lifted, finally, off of herself and across the aisle of the store to her "mentor" for the evening -- a Kirigakure ninja who Mei-Mei thinks introduced herself as ... Fu ... Ko? Fuyo? Fyuko? A roll of her shoulders signaled that the ex-academy student couldn't really pretend to care, instead diverting her attention to a stray stand of hair and fitting it back into place. Yes, she relented, this was going to be torture. "This isn't worth the Ryo ...," she sighed, barely managing to keep her posture from slipping and her shoulders from drooping to the ground.

An extravagant swivel on her foot a moment later has her facing the entrance to the store, taking in a deep breath and bringing her fists up to her sides. She strikes a dramatic and resolute pose, tossing back her head and briefly beaming from the very core of those gold-specked amber eyes. "But I took this request, and I'll see it through! Mei-Mei Kimura will never be remembered as someone who couldn't conquer a service job!" She really just needed the money. For her family, her lifestyle was a difficult one to keep up with. They didn't have the finances, and she didn't have higher aspirations when it came to her career, especially in regards to the shinobi path she had long since discarded entirely. Someone had to pay for the upkeep of her extravagant tastes -- and until she found that Special Someone she just knew would take care of her every need, this is where she was at.

Another down beat and she tilts her face to peer once more at the other girl, a twitch to one of her eyes and a slight grimace on those cherry-red lips. "I just don't know why you had to accompany me on this mission, Kirigakure ... A simple cashier job being a D-Rank mission ... This is Shinobi prejudice ..." Fairly, Mei-Mei understood that there was more to this job than meets the eye - they had to unmask some kind of ne'er-do-well - but it couldn't be that difficult.

Ah, the problems even hot girls face. If only a kind, gorgeous prince would ride in through that plain glass door and whisk her away ...

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