Dancing with the Spies {Mission - Nuclear, Noisy - C}

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

| Pre-Mission Brief... |

Mission Details:

Approved mission link

Mission... START!

If one truly knew a certain Katsumi Kimiko, they would know that missions and tasks that used stealth and cunning were something that she despised. And here she found herself making her way to a meeting point just outside of the village to meet with her team mate and student for this aforementioned mission. She had received the mission scroll yesterday morning, and she was called in for a briefing with the Hokage shortly afterwards. She didn’t understand why they sent the mission scroll and did the briefing separately, but wasn’t one to argue with the one who held all the power in the village, even if she did her best. She and Ridori Mitsu were on ‘friendly’ terms, and she saw him numerous times in his office for no end of things. First and foremost, she had arranged on some occasions to meet him on a personal level; a quirk of hers that she shared with all previous Hokage that she had known. If she was to become a Hokage in the future, she should know about those that had been there and done the job, no? On a more professional level, he dealt with the sabotage of a mission she was sent out on two years previously, and since then she had sporadic meetings with him about the organisation that Intelligence had lost all track of, and to make her interest known in the politics of the village. Although for the most part, her mission partner/ boyfriend Hinamori Toshiro did more of the political talks than she did, and for good reason. He had plenty of experience with the fat cats at the top, and more often than not if Kimiko attended council meetings as a respected Konoha Jounin, she would leave in a royal huff afterwards because of how ‘pompous and stuck up their own arses’ they all were.

In the briefing she was given about the mission, she made her disdain clear that missions that dealt with spying and such subtleties weren’t her speciality. Mitsu countered that her interest in the Protection Service would come with subtleties without a doubt, and that effectively shut her up and made her deal with the mission she had been assigned. She was to be embarking on it along with Toshiro and his student, a Genin boy called Tsukiyomi Rin. It would be good experience for the kid, but the female Jounin couldn’t help but feel a little wary that it may be a bit dangerous for him. After all, the mission was A-Ranked. She put her trust in her boyfriend’s choice, however, and didn’t say a word about the boy coming along for the ride. She thought back to her own Genin days, and knew that she would have jumped at the chance to go on an A-Rank mission with two Jounin. It would have literally been a dream come true for her. And in all fairness, the mission didn’t involve slaughtering a band of shinobi, so she knew that it would be fine. She would have preferred it, however, if it was slaughtering a band of shinobi, because that was something she did better than stealth and all ‘hush-hush’ matters. The one part of the mission that interested her was the fact that she would be attending a gala. Why was she so interested in attending a gala of all events? Why, she would be able to wear her new kimono that she bought for such formal events. She wasn’t going to be wearing it until they neared their destination because of the nature of the outfit for one thing; it had been far too expensive for her to simply wear it while travelling. It would get all muddy and torn and ruined, so she had it pressed and folded in her black rucksack she was carrying about her person.

Instead, she was garbed in a typical outfit that she wore for missions when they weren’t given to her at the last minute (like some recent ones were). Her attire consisted of a deep crimson v-necked shirt that hugged her figure well patterned with black feathers descending down her back, underneath which was a net shirt that showed at her chest and on her arms, a short white skirt wrapped out of bandages (or so it appeared) with a longer black skirt that reached her mid-thighs and ornate brown sandals with a slight heel. At her left breast were the two golden pins she had in her possession; one was the starburst of the Hinamori clan, and one was the leaf of the Katsumi. Her forehead protector mounted on green material was tied around her upper right thigh, visible below the hem of her black skirt. Around her neck was the delicate gold chain given to her through one of the numerous letters she and Toshiro exchanged in her years of absence from the village, the deep red garnets highlighting the crimson in her shirt. Her ebony locks were left loose, although some bangs were pushed back off her face with a green silk headband. She had left most of her weapons at home save for the typical shinobi weapons she kept in the two hip bags that sat snugly at her lower back. As she walked through the village she passed by un-noticed, whether that was because it was market day and most were milling about colourful stalls, or because she had a look on her face that radiated a clear annoyance at her current predicament. She didn’t really know of any techniques that could be used while she was being stealthy, she was well-known for being an up-front attacker with no complications; i.e. Not having to sneak about in the shadows.

She assumed that the Hokage would think it would be good experience for her, what with her newfound profession of choice she was applying for as a Protection Service Nin, but such a service were obvious in their flexibility. They allowed those who were stealthy and those who were intelligent, but she knew of people through her father who specialised in close-combat that acted as the first line of defence out on the field for the service. ‘God damnit, Mitsu-sama, you know my thoughts on these missions…’ She thought while she stormed through the village square, not really noticing how people moved out of her way as if expecting an explosion from the angry ebony-haired woman. ‘At least on the bright side I’ll be with Toshi-kun and his student.’ She thought somewhat optimistically, and from this thought stemmed many from her younger days alongside her now-boyfriend. When they were both Genin, they had been sent on a mission together and that was how their feelings for one another started. And here they were being sent on a mission as proud Jounin of Konoha. It was funny how things came around, and this train of thought made Kimiko smile while remembering back to those days. It had seemed like a lifetime since all of that had happened, when in fact it had been about six years ago; not overly long considering. Now Toshiro was twenty years old, and her twentieth birthday was on the horizon. Such an age seemed… odd to her. Even though the typical school of thought was that at age eighteen you were an adult, when one reached the age of twenty, that was when it seemed older to Kimiko. She had of course been poking fun at her boyfriend for being so ‘old’; that was just what she was like. Even when he was seventeen and she had recently turned sixteen she had called him old, just because he was older than her. In return she never heard the end of being a youngster from her fellow classmates and from her beloved. She couldn’t help being a summer-born, could she? She had been considered ‘disadvantaged’ due to the fact that if one looked at the fact that somebody born in September in her class was almost a whole year older than her, it spoke volumes. She was literally very behind the rest of her Academy graduating class, especially including her boyfriend due to his birthday being in December.

She reached the village gates and pulled out the mission scroll giving her permission to leave the village for an undisclosed amount of time while the mission was completed. And with that, she waited outside the gates for her boyfriend and for the boy who would be accompanying them, Rin. She had heard many things about him from Toshiro, but would wait to meet him for herself to make decisions. By all accounts, the Hinamori Jounin was confident enough to request the boy be brought along on an A-Rank mission, and that was admirable in itself. She checked the wristwatch she was wearing, a small golden thing on a brown strap attached to her left wrist, and saw that she was of course over half an hour early. No matter how hard she tried to simply be ‘on time’, she was always ridiculously early for everything. The Hokage could be in the middle of an important meeting and Kimiko would be insisting that she was on time for her own informal meeting even if she was in fact a whole hour earlier than the agreed time. She just couldn’t help the way that her body clock set itself, and even on her days off when she knew she could sleep in for a while, she was up at the latest at 7am. Ridiculous to say the least, but… it was Katsumi Kimiko, and would anybody really expect any different from her of all people?

Posts : 1187

'Well, it will be interesting to see how this pans out.' Rin was talking to himself again. Him and Kuro were on their way to the place of which the pairs latest mission would be starting. The Konoha Genin had already been sick this morning due to nerves and every step sent his head spinning as if on an axis. Today was the day that would truly make or break him. If he performed well on his mission it could mean a quick promotion to the rank of Chuunin. On the other hand if he did badly or worse it may mean that he would be a Genin for the rest of his days. A message had arrived on his doorstep the previous night. And ever since he had broken the seal of the letter he had been more nervous and excited than he had ever been before in his entire life. He would be departing on a mission with his Jounin sensei Toshiro and his girlfriend and fellow Jounin Kimiko. Rin hoped that he would not make it awkward for the couple. After all he was four years younger than Toshiro and three younger than Kimiko. The best thing to do would be to keep his mouth shut for most of it, but all he wanted to make a good impression on his sensei's girlfriend.

This Kimiko must truly be an exceptional shinobi. She was a year younger than Toshiro and already a fully qualified Jounin. Which could mean that she was stronger than her boyfriend. But the chances of that one in a million. After all the overall power of the white haired Jounin was immense. Speaking of exceptional shinobi, Rin would like to get a chance of meeting the current Hokage. After all anyone that can reach the rank of Kage was worth meeting. He had heard through the grape vine that he was called Ridori Mitsu, or something along those lines. However Rin had never actually laid eyes upon this man. He was dressed in his normal on duty stuff. But using the storage technique his cloak and ulaks were in a two separate scrolls in his pouch. He was however wearing his leather jacket with the hood made of some strange material. But because of some parts of the mission, namely the attending of the conference thing the boy had packed the smartest articles of clothing that he owned into a rucksack. These were black trousers, a white shirt and his tie, not to mention the horrible pair of smart black shoes that had been bought just incase he was to ever attend an event such as this. His hands were in his pockets and Rin was pulling them down towards to the ground, this made his hair go flat at the top. A katana and its sheath were resting on his left hip, a tanto above his backside with its handle pointing also to the boys left. The purple haired Genin was considering trying to get a gauntlet with retractable steel claws to put over his left hand. That way he could use his katana, gauntlet and jutsus all in one go. Or katana, gauntlet and tanto, the possibilities were 'limitless'.

Possibly Kimiko and Toshiro would be able to give him a couple of pointers in becoming a Jounin. After all they had both seemed to be able to do it, so maybe they could help him. But now he was forced to come back from his thoughts to reality. This would be his first and possibly only A rank mission. He was forced to believe that Toshiro would take care of him. Hopefully he would not need any help and it would all go off with out any trouble. The letter informing him of the mission had not made it out to be particularly threatening. It was not as if he had to invade a country teeming with enemies and it was his duty to slaughter them all. To be honest that sounded quite a lot more fun than the actual task in hand. Him and the two Jounin had to attend a sort of meeting between a spy and his master and then either arrest them or exterminate the targets with extreme prejudice, the letter had not really been that clear and it had been worded slightly strangely. Another reason why it was and A rank was probably because most of the important people in the land of fire would be there. Even more of a reason not to mess up.

But Rin had to remain confident in himself. Internally and externally it was the most excited and happy he had ever known himself to be. There probably were not many people with the rank of C that would be allowed to be present at a gathering of the most important people in one of the largest countries in the world. Let alone the fact that he was probably one of the only C rank shinobi in Konoha that was allowed to do A rank missions. Or so he liked to think, it would kind of ruin his mood if he found out that loads of Genin went on A rank missions, and he was not really that special. Either way it was unlikely that he would get to do much anyway, all the cool stuff would probably be done by the older and more experienced people. But at the first sign of being able to do something worth while and cool he would jump straight on to the offer. Rin had decided earlier that morning that he would milk the hell out of any chances that he got. For instance if it gave him an opportunity to get in with anyone that would be able to help him later on in life - especially if it would help him with getting into the ANBU - he would not be shy and get stuck in. But this was just Rin day dreaming and most likely it would stay that way.

The odd couple of cat and boy made their way slowly to the destination just outside of the village in which they lived. It was a grey day and the sky was covered in nothing but a thick blanket of loud. A light wind blew about the land, it cause the leaves of each tree to ripple lightly. The sky looked as if it could open at any moment, this was slightly worrying if rain did decide to fall. It would most likely take Rin and Kuro about ten minutes to reach the gate. And sure enough it did. After showing his verification the pair were allowed to step out of Konoha and into the land of fire. The fact that he did not know what Kimiko actually looked like and Toshiro was no where in sight, the Genin decided to wait until his Jounin sensei showed up,

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Given his position as the likely successor to his father, Hinamori Toshiro was well-versed in the "high-class" social meetings that many people dreamed of attending. If asked his honest opinion the jounin would have said that they were loons for wanting to attend what he categorized as, at the minimum, a waste of time. Even compared to a council meeting - since at least a council meeting meant having to stay on your toes to avoid a potential verbal trap. Maybe it was the pretentious natures of the "upper class", or just his lack of appreciation for what might be termed "socialization" but he never failed to be glad when the event was over and left as soon as possible. So finding himself assigned to catch a spy and his handler in the middle of one of the "must visit" galas thrown by the Fire Lord was quite... bad in the jounin's mind. Even worse considering that barely a week had passed since his last A-rank, a coincidence that Toshiro suspected was his Kage's retribution for the headache-inducing mission report and a number of eye-sores in his office that were officially gifts from the ruler of River Country that had resulted from said A-rank.

As far as the jounin was concerned the only upsides this assignment was the two other Leaf-nin who would be with him. Between the normal chaos that was a part of two upper-rank shinobi in a relationship and the extra chaos that came with being Katsumi Kimiko and Hinamori Toshiro, time together was far too rare for the latter ninja's liking. So this chance to spend some serious time with her had gone a long way to limiting his irritation at yet another trip into the hell of high society to a glare. Well that and at least this time it wasn't a last-second thing so he had been able to pack properly - there would be no repeat of the mission back when he was a chuunin that had incinerated his best suit just before he was supposed to meet Kimiko's family. Not only had he replaced that charcoal-grey suit with another that was practically identical, but its replacement was in a fireproof bag with enough seals on it to withstand anything short of a protracted dunking in lava (a claim that had been tested and verified). Normally he would have preferred if it was just the two of them, but with an unknown number of hostiles in an area with plenty of high-profile hostages present the Hokage had for all intents ordered that at least one more ninja be assigned to the mission. Instead of selecting the options whose profiles the village leader had pushed forward, Toshiro had selected one his own genin to fill that empty spot. A decision that had raised many eyebrows and caused a few of the Hokages advisors to do spit-takes and start slinging variations of "are you insane" and "why a genin" at the jounin. Questions that had in turn garnered three reasons in response. The first reason being that while he and Kimiko were a known pair and had a ready reason to attend the gala together, another noted ninja of the Leaf present would be certain to raise suspicions among their targets. As a near-unknown however Rin would be overlooked. Secondly if, by some quirk of chance, Rin was recognized it could actually lull the targets; after all, they could easily assume that "soft" Leaf-nin would never take a genin on a high-rank mission and decide that the trio wasn't there for them. The third reason was that if things degraded to the point of combat it was utterly critical that any Konoha-nin be able to work together and with the Fire Lords guards to keep collateral damage to a minimum. There simply wasn't been the time to develop that with some random chuunin or jounin, but it already existed between Toshiro and Rin. And with Kimiko having trained with her boyfriend for months to become proficient with weapons there was bound to be some cross-over.

Left unsaid was the real reason why Toshiro insisted on brining Rin along. That reason being that of the three genin entrusted to him, Rin was easily his favorite. Not only because they had the most in common in terms of skills, but because he genuinely liked the squirt. For lack of a better term Rin was the most "balanced" - neither naive or jaded about life as a ninja, Toshiro considered the youngster the most dependable of his three genin. Such a rare gem deserved to be polished on occasion and this outing would be just the chance to put some polish on Rin. Besides getting an A-rank mission as a genin (never a bad thing when it came time to select new chuunin) the chance to get some name-recognition for oneself among the movers-and-shakers on Fire Country didn't hurt. And with two jounin to handle the "heavy lifting" there shouldn't be much risk at all. And if things managed to hit the fan... well, he hadn't been lying about Rin being able to hold his own. If the most recent addition to the team could be brought up to speed, he had every intention of entering his trio in the next Chuunin Exams and would have no doubt that given a fair chance Rin would do well enough to earn that rank.

Such thoughts were for the future however and Toshiro had more immediate concerns right then. Chief among them was not knocking anyone down as he made his way to the gate while burdened with a travel pack. A pack that was mercifully light, a fact that one dog-masked ANBU would have been grateful for had his head not still been ringing from being used as a landing pad while hiding in a tree. As always packed light on the personal items, Toshiro had even left several of his weapons behind. Well left being technically since they were actually with his summons that were never more than a few hand seals away. In this case light meant just his basic weapons kit and a single one of his personalized katana would accompany him on the trip. A savings in weight that let the always fleet-footed ninja move so quickly that to most it appeared as if he was using the Shushin without much effort. That speed let him arrive just in time to see Kimiko waiting outside the gate and Rin getting cleared to pass through. He might have dropped down directly behind Rin to, in the time-honored manner of jounin-sensei taking their student out on their first "real" mission, scare the living hell out of the genin if not for one of the guards seeing him. A guard who happened to be Toshiro's cousin Ko and thus immediately recognized the jounin. A short exchange of the hand signs used between members of the Hinamori to speak silently and a nudge that brought the other guard (yet another cousin) into things got tiresome issue of the gate out of the way. And gave the jounin a better idea thanks to Ko's sense of humor.

Rather than appearing out of almost thin air behind Rin, Toshiro did just that but directly behind Kimiko instead. A closeness he took advantage of to try running one hand over Kimiko's backside while the other snaked around her waist and pulled the shorter jounin against him while he still (hopefully) had the element of surprise. "Waiting for me dear? I'm flattered." That said, and whatever consequences for his boldness suffered, Toshiro raised his voice to catch the attention of his genin. "Rin, get your rear over here and say hello to Kimiko." The next part was said just loud enough that his snickering cousins guarding the gate could also hear. "My better half and your future boss so you had better make a good impression."

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

The ebony-haired Jounin had her back turned to the village gates and as such didn’t see the approach of Rin or Toshiro for that matter, or the rather comical exchange between the latter male and his cousins who guarded the gate. She heard movement, however, but played none the wiser to the fact that nobody was behind her, humming gently under her breath and absently looking at her un-painted nails. She was reminded of a fate she had with her beloved in a couple of days, and made a mental note to manicure her nails for the occasion. She lifted her head slightly when she didn’t hear the hushed tones of her boyfriend and his cousins, and wondered what on earth he was up to now. She slowly turned around to face the village gates, and ‘surprise surprise’, she heard a familiar whoosh of clothing on a human body touch the floor behind her on light feet. When a well-known scent touched her sensitive nose, she was about to open her mouth and greet her boyfriend, but what happened next really did surprise her. He grazed a hand across her backside and seized her waist to pull her against him, and despite her knowing he was there in the first place, she almost lost her footing at the sudden movement. She sighed softly and looked round with a slight upwards incline of her head to look Toshiro in the eye, cursing the fact that he was very much taller than her. “I’m always waiting for you my sweet, because you always manage to be late.” She retorted, rolling her eyes in a playful manner. She looked ahead at the dark-haired Genin that Toshiro was addressing, and couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the manner that her boyfriend spoke to the younger male. She imagined that either A) Toshiro was close enough to Rin to address him such a way, or B) that was just… Toshiro.

Not quite sure of the reason just yet, Kimiko released herself from her boyfriend’s firm grip around her waist to step forwards a little while looking at Rin who was still a fair distance away, but not far enough for her not to notice things about him. He had dark hair, that was something she saw before, mainly black but in the sunlight she could see flashes of deep purple and even an indigo blue in there as well. His eyes were a very startling cyan blue, something that was a rare trait for one with dark hair. She had dark hair herself, and deep brown eyes to match the typical stereotype given to dark-haired people. Such a contrast was welcomed by her, however, as she held out a hand to beckon the Genin closer. He looked older than most Genin, especially her own team, perhaps a couple of years younger than herself; even if at times she appeared older than her nineteen years somehow. “First of all, Toshi-kun don’t be so rude to the boy.” She spoke to her boyfriend, lifting her hand up and swiftly impacting it with the back of his head, not hard by any stretch of the imagination. It had been a playful smack designed to embarrass him (if only slightly), and she grinned as Ko and the other cousin guarding the village gates snickered delightedly at the sight. “Secondly, don’t let this old timer pressure you when it comes to me.” She spoke to Rin at this point, having to raise her voice a little for it to carry to the ears of the Genin. The ‘old timer’ was of course her own boyfriend, and she couldn’t help but glance back over her shoulder at him with a cheeky grin he would know well by this point. “But, like Toshi-kun says, my name is Katsumi Kimiko; luckily for me, I’m his girlfriend of… the good parts of three years. I prefer to be called Kimi for many reasons, mainly because I despise formality of any kind, and also because even to this day if I’m called Kimiko I know that I’m in trouble.” She laughed heartily, giving the younger male a welcoming smile, the kind that she gave people to make them feel more comfortable in her presence. Ten times out of ten, it worked with everybody else.

She glanced at her watch again, seeing that it was past the meeting time and that they should get moving. She stretched her arms above her head, clasping her hands in place at the back of her ebony locks casually and glancing at both her mission partners for the day. “Either way, we should start moving. The sooner we get this mission started, the sooner it will end.” She made a glimpse of her hatred for this kinds of missions touch her face as she pouted a little bit at the thought, muttering things under her breath that could be heard in places as ‘stupid spying’ and ‘no-good poshies with their galas’. She unclasped her hands from behind her head and subconsciously patted the rucksack situated on her back, testing its weight to make sure that everything was still inside it. She had made sure to be well-prepared, and instead of being lazy about putting ration bars in her rucksack, she had put numerous tubs of left-over cooking from throughout the week which could easily be re-heated with the aid of a campfire. She didn’t want her poor boyfriend or Rin to suffer from the disgusting wrath that was ration bars, especially since the former had numerous bad experiences with them in the past. All in all, she was a good cook, even if she preferred to bake above all, and had prepared high-energy pasta dishes that would give them the will to continue even when they were sick of the pompous no-good idiots that filled the gala. Neatly folded and packed on top of the Tupperware tubs was her highly expensive formal kimono and accessories to go with it, but she wouldn’t reveal the outfit’s secrets until the time came to change into it. Even if more often than not she regained her tomboyish attitude from her youth, she didn’t hesitate to show off her more girlish side at times; like the fact that she was excited for this gala.

After exchanges were made, even if her mission partners were ready or not, Kimiko turned and set off in the direction heading away from the village. They would simply have to follow her, wouldn’t they? “Come on, we don’t have all day!” She called back over her shoulder to the two males whether they were directly behind her, or still stood in shock at her hastiness to get this god-forsaken mission finished. She was desperately hoping that they would be able to get it all done in a day and venture back tomorrow, but with such a tenuous mission she didn’t want to lay any future plans until they unfolded. In spite of her wishing to save the world from conflict and growing stronger for that self same reason, knowing her luck they would possibly cause all sorts of worldly issues if the mission went wrong today. They couldn’t be hasty in the mission itself, which was why Kimiko was trying to get all of that haste out of her system before they reached the venue for the gala. She started to wonder what the place would be like, as the mission description had detailed a wealthy Fire Country lord’s house as being the venue of choice. No doubt it was all elaborately decorated, so large that one could line up dozens of football pitches end to end inside the floor plan, and above all; ludicrously expensive. She was glad that she had packed the much more dignified kimono she owned instead of the other formal ones she owned, mainly because the others were primarily made with… other things in mind, namely with seduction at the top of the list. Although they were unmistakably pretty and expensive as well, somehow they didn’t seem appropriate for an event of such sophistication and class. If the ebony-haired woman wore one of them this evening, chances are she would be kicked out for such ‘whoreish’ wear. There were many ways in which somebody could attract attention on a spy mission, and one of these was being dress inappropriately. Needless to say, she had done plenty of research into what people wore at galas and had chosen her outfit appropriately.

Such thoughts on the impending mission made her realise just how involved this would all be and only curse the Hokage even more for his decision to send her along for this task. With a heavy sigh, she turned back around and fell in to walk beside Toshiro with him in between his girlfriend and student respectively. She looked around her significant other to the dark-haired Genin at his other side and gave the younger male a kind smile. “So, tell me about yourself, Rin. Toshi-kun has already said many things about you, but I’d like to hear from you directly.” She inquired, really quite curious about the Genin that was on this mission. It was then that she noticed (in a very delayed fashion) that the boy was travelling with a rather adorable little cat. Since making her contract with those of a feline alignment, Kimiko had found herself becoming very much like one of the same species, and above all she found that she took a liking to cats immediately. Her chocolate eyes widened and seemed to sparkle while she fixed her eyes on the cat, smiling insanely wide and finding herself to be utterly captivated by the feline at present. “Nya! Your companion is so adorable!” She cooed, unable to help the rather girlish reaction as a small purr-like noise emitted from her throat. “I can’t believe that I didn’t notice sooner!” Her earlier very wide smile settled to something much more… normal. She instinctively took hold of her boyfriend’s hand while walking, giving him a look that basically said ‘you didn’t tell me he had a cat!’

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Rin flopped his head back against the stone wall next to the village gates. He looked up at the sky and sighed, for all he knew it would take ages for Toshiro to arrive. Looking to his left, back towards the gate the Genin stared at the guards. It did not look like a particularly fun job. After all it probably meant that one would waste their entire day simply standing around and not doing a lot. Also jobs such as being a cooking nin and courier nin seemed slightly boring. Even though he knew that many people his own age went for the courier nin option of work. Mainly because it was an easy way to get money. Eventually Rin might and try to go for a job in that particular service any way. Mainly because it might be a good way of getting work experience. That and it might be a quite useful way of making money. Lately the teenage boy and been considering if and when his time as an ANBU had run it's course, he might go into the protection ninja services. Mainly because it would probably mean that he got to do plenty of good experiences and he had heard about some of their signature jutsus, and they all sounded pretty bad ass. But it was useless thinking about this all if he never even ended up making it into the ANBU black ops.

Toshiro's voice aroused him from his day dreams. "Rin, get your rear over here and say hello to Kimiko." Then in a considerably louder voice. "My better half and your future boss so you had better make a good impression." The last part about Kimiko being his future boss slightly confused the teenage boy. Maybe Toshiro just meant that she would be in charge for this mission. He started to make his his way towards the couple and as he got closer Rin began to look at his sensei's girlfriend. She was wearing a blood red v-necked shirt which was worn tightly around her body. A shirt made of netting could be seen covering her arms and chest. Around her legs was a rather short skirt which had a longer black skirt underneath it. This was quite considerably longer as it went down to the girls mid-thighs. On her feet were lacquered brown sandals. Glinting gold objects could be seen on her person but it was impossibly to make them out from this distance. She also wore a gold chain around her neck, it appeared to be encrusted with some sort of red gems. Kimiko had midnight black hair and pale skin, she was pretty which explained why Toshiro liked her so much.

As soon as he got with in normal talking distance. “First of all, Toshi-kun don’t be so rude to the boy.” She said while smiling. Rin already began to like this girl. She seemed to be really nice and it was funny the way that she acted with Toshiro. “Secondly, don’t let this old timer pressure you when it comes to me." Rin laughed at this. "Don't worry I won't," He said smiling. Then she started up again. “But, like Toshi-kun says, my name is Katsumi Kimiko; luckily for me, I’m his girlfriend of… the good parts of three years. I prefer to be called Kimi for many reasons, mainly because I despise formality of any kind, and also because even to this day if I’m called Kimiko I know that I’m in trouble.” She laughed and smiled warmly. Which made the purple haired boy ease up and relax a bit more. The Genin noted that the pair were not particularly scared of showing public affection. Considering that Toshiro's arm was wrapped around her waist with his hand resting on her lower backside. But this was not surprising if the two had been together for three years.

Bending his back Rin placed his hands on his thighs and waited for them to get going, or for a new piece of conversation to start up. He said hi to his sensei and waited in silence until Kimi said. “Either way, we should start moving. The sooner we get this mission started, the sooner it will end.” Nodding in agreement he stood up and got ready to start walking. A sudden flash of anger was visible across Kimiko's face. Either he or Toshiro had done something, she hated walking or there was something about the mission that she disliked. Rin found it slightly odd that he was going on a mission, but he had no clue where it was to be taking place. So he did what any sensible person would do if they had a question, ask. "Sorry guys but I still have no idea where we are actually going, would one of you mind telling me? I mean I have a vague idea but I am still not entirely sure about it all."

As they started walking it instantly became apparent that Kimi was in a hurry, that or she walked incredibly quickly. It would be hard for Rin to keep up but he tried to stay as close to her as possible, he ended up walking next to Toshiro. "You ok?" He said to the male Jounin of the party. "It's just, I haven't really seen you in a while and was wondering how it had been. As they walked on to their destination the trio passed the beautiful scenery of the land of fire, such as luscious trees and neat little rivers. From what he had read about other countries in books this one sounded the nicest and most balanced. Of all the other countries that he wanted to visit the land of grass and lightning were top of his list. From the front of the party Kimi's voice could be heard. “So, tell me about yourself, Rin. Toshi-kun has already said many things about you, but I’d like to hear from you directly" As she said this the female Jounin dropped back a bit so that she could talk to them. Rin laughed."There isn't really much to say really. I'm an experienced Genin now which is pretty cool, I was born in Konoha but lived in the land of Iron for about five or so years. Um as you might of guessed I use weaponry," as he said this he slightly raised his katana. "I love music, food, fighting, meditating and fishing. I don't really dislike anything apart from some people. But certainly not you two. Kimi you seem really nice, sensei Toshiro is very lucky to have you." With that he smiled. Then Kimi spoke, but it was not about what he had expected. Nya! Your companion is so adorable!” Rin laughed at this as he stroked Kuro under the chin. She then emitted a quie girly noise, it was a sort of purring noise. “I can’t believe that I didn’t notice sooner!”
Smiling the boy spoke again. "Oh yeah, this is Kuro. He's my cat and best friend, I met him in my times at the land of Iron."

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Enduring the consequences his bought of playfulness had earned him, Toshiro kept his knowing smirk in place through the light smack to the back of his head from Kimiko. Even through the snickering of his cousins, an action that earned the pair a cross look laced with a promise of retribution but not much else. Watching his better half greet Rin Toshiro was reminded yet again why whenever it came to dealing with real people (as opposed to pedigreed bags of hot air) he let her handle things. It wasn't anything obvious but after teaching someone for over a year, the teacher was bound to notice the little things that said their student was at ease or distress. In this case it was the former, with Rin chatting away more than the jounin as they two males did their best to keep up (instead of overtake in the older ones case) with Kimiko. Well-used to how his girlfriend seemed to hate waiting at times, Toshiro had only shrugged in apology to his student before hurrying up so that he was walking alongside Kimiko with Rin on his opposite side. In this case the male jounin heartily wished that his girlfriend was in one of her rare lazy moods; the last place he wanted to kill time, and if the trio kept up this pace they would make their destination a day early, was Fire County's capital. The last time he had needed to do so almost resulted in his making a killing (literally) in a market. Although he knew that it as a mostly futile effort with Kimiko knowing that her boyfriend really couldn't say no to her, Toshiro still felt obligated to try to keep the center of his world from going too fast. "Kimi-chan, if we hustle this fast we'll only have to wait around when we get there. The gala is a week away and it's only three and a half days and to the capital."

That said Toshiro soon found himself roped into chatting with the only genin on the mission. When Rin asked how his teacher-slash-commanding officer was, what followed would have sent most genin (at least the male ones) into retching fits. "Couldn't have been better squirt." The glance Toshiro shot in Kimiko's direction was as good as words at saying why that was. Smitten? Utterly and completely and a new reason to be so again found every day. Even her "catty" moments as Toshiro dubbed them just made her more adorable. That didn't stop him from looking up as if to say "here we go again" when the ebony-haired kunochi spotted Rin's pet. What followed was typical Kimiko-plus-cute-cat high jinks with a 'why didn't you say you had a genin with a cat' from his girlfriend. For the umpteenth time since becoming an item Toshiro found himself reminding Kimiko that she was the one who enjoyed chatting up people, not him. "Because you never asked dear and it wasn't my place to tell." No doubt he would pay for that "Momiji-ish" comment but such would come due later, and hopefully it would be blunted by upcoming events. "You forgot to add babysitter Rin." Giving no room for his genin to deny or find an excuse to run ahead, Toshiro went on to explain just why he considered Kuro his genin's babysitter. "Rin and Boney somehow both took separate tumbles down a hillside that knocked them out while out gathering supplies when we were scouting a bandit fort in Rice Country. This squirt managed to partially fracture an arm in the process and must have landed in a stream. If Kuro hadn't made enough racket to wake the dead when I was out looking for them I might have never found him face-down on the river bank where he washed up." A moment taken to chuckle slightly at that memory, even if at the time he had felt like cursing every kami whose name he could vaguely remember, the white haired jounin did show some mercy. In this case "mercy" was making sure that Rin wasn't the only one whose folly on that past mission was dragged back into the light. "Of course Boney wasn't any better. His own cat dragged him into camp a few minutes after I had brought Rin back, and Matsunaka looked like he'd picked a fight with a cheese grater and lost. The first round and the rematch. When the follow-up mission came he was still out of action from all the stitches that made him look like a life-sized version of those rag dolls kids play with so it was just Rin to back me up on that one." A shake of his head showed just how ironic Toshiro found that - the big bad Kayuga missing two missions from a trip-and-fall while the youngest member of the team got to at least make the secondary mission.

With a mental shake and silent laugh at what had been a simpler (at least compared to recent times) time, Toshiro put aside the past for later to deal with the present and the future. More specifically, explaining to the youngest member of the trio where they were headed. Having their teammate surprised on seeing the capital of Fire Country for the first time was not conducive to a smoothly-run mission; surprised people tend to blurt things out and if unfriendly ears heard the wrong thing it would be... problematic. "Anyway, we're headed to the Fire Lord's palace in the capital. Apparently a favored nephew of his is getting married soon and this whole overblown affair is to introduce the bride-to-be to her future social peers." On another the expression accompanying that statement at the idea of someone who was technically royalty (albeit no where near close to the line of succession) marrying a merchant's daughter would have been disgust or jealousy. Toshiro's expression conveyed something a full one-hundred and eighty degrees from those - pity. "The poor girl."

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko was glad to see that through her usual demeanour, Rin had visibly relaxed in her presence and through what she said. Sometimes when she revealed that she was a Jounin, many people felt uncomfortable and wished to impress her due to her prodigious rank, but after she revealed her true colours (which wasn’t all too hard considering how often she displayed them anyway), needless to say anybody’s tension with her was dissipated easily. Whatever she tried to tell herself on the matter as to what the reason was, she knew deep down that it was to do with a certain aura and way of dealing with people that made others comfortable, and for this gift she was eternally grateful. People and human beings were her salvation as much as they were involved in her line of work, and to think that she scared or intimidated anyone but the enemy made her upset. There was a certain damper on her mood when she heard from Toshiro how long it was until the gala, and how long it would take them to travel to their destination. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!” She practically exclaimed in disdain, spinning around and pouting much like a child at this point. “The Hokage didn’t mention anything about time scales to me!” She whined, fishing about madly in her rucksack as she heaved it from her shoulder into her hands. When she found the blue-bordered mission scroll that detailed the task at hand, she scanned it and then held it up for her boyfriend to see. “Look! Nothing about how long it would all take!” She felt as if she had to prove something desperately, to make it known that she was given false information, or lack thereof. Her shoulders slumped and she hung her head slightly while walking, her pace obviously slowing at this realisation. If the gala wasn’t to be held for another week, there was no need for her to be rushing now, was there? Just like Toshiro said. “Darned Mitsu-sama… setting me up…” She muttered to herself with a deep sigh that rattled in her chest as if to express just how annoyed she was with the whole situation.

She fell back to walk with Toshiro and Rin at this point, and after something the former said (perhaps in answer to a question asked of him), the latter launched into a bit about himself for the only female on the team to hear. The Genin said that he was classed as Experienced now, which was always a nice milestone to make in the never-ending boring road of being on the bottom of the shinobi ladder, bar Academy Students. Becoming an Experienced Genin was a relief, because after that you could bet on the fact that you would make Chuunin at some point at least. Rin continued to say that he was born in Konoha, but lived in the Land of Iron for five years. ‘How interesting…’ She thought, her ever-observant chocolate eyes watching him in obvious interest. Something about him reminded her of many different people she knew, making him an individual alright. ‘I’ll need to watch this one… I have a feeling that he’ll grow to become someone great.’ She smiled to herself in a knowing fashion while watching the boy, averting her gaze when she met his cyan blue orbs as not to make it seem obvious she had been looking at him so avidly. The boy gave a list of hobbies that he enjoyed, and then made a point of saying how much he had already taken a liking to Kimiko. This caught the ebony-haired woman by surprise when Rin expressed that Toshiro was lucky to have her, and a small blush of gratitude touched her cheeks upon hearing this. “Thank you, Rin. Nothing is one-sided, however, and I must say that I am very lucky to have your sensei.” She smiled, the slight blush still colouring her cheeks a radiant pink. She squeezed her boyfriend’s hand while they walked side by side, and gave Rin a delightful smile as well. Choosing his time to speak about the earlier ‘look’ his girlfriend had given him, Toshiro said that she had never asked and it wasn’t his place to tell. This simply made Kimiko roll her eyes a little; an answer she should have expected, of course.

The boy explained that the cat was named Kuro, and was a pet he had acquired during his time spent in the Land of Iron. The Katsumi’s significant other piped up by giving a sequence of events that made the cat Rin’s ‘babysitter’ as well, effectively saving him when the going got rough on a mission. By the end, Kimiko was undoubtedly impressed with the Genin’s determination; even after taking such bad injuries that his team-mate had to step down from a few missions, he had continued on straight away. “Very admirable, Rin.” She commented with a smile that spoke volumes about how impressed she was. She turned then to her boyfriend and gave him a slight shake of the head and a look that he should know well by now; it was the ‘don’t be so mean’ look. “You really shouldn’t be too hard on Matsunaka-san. He was our team mate, once upon a time! Even if we beat him to the punch and rose up through the ranks faster than he did…” She couldn’t help but snicker a little bit upon realising how much quicker she and Toshiro had advanced in comparison to their old team mate, that ironically enough, had ended up in her boyfriend’s care. Kimiko’s first team that she took on while she was a Chuunin was the best parts of a disaster; she had a wannabe suicide bomber Haretsu and a split-personality Uzumaki to deal with. Fu hadn’t been a problem, hell, he didn’t really show up at all. Her current team were much more agreeable, even if one of them was a Jinchuriki that she undoubtedly liked very much in terms of potential and personality. Nobody would have ever guessed that he was harbouring a tailed beast inside him, after all.

Back-tracking a bit, Toshiro explained to Rin what the low-down was on the mission and what was going to be happening. They were headed for the Fire Lord’s palace in the capital of the Fire Country where he had secured a marriage deal for one of his nephews or something of the like, somehow giving the right to throw a huge gala. He obviously pitied the girl who was being married into the family, and Kimiko could understand why. Having had to deal with many higher-ups in the village and around the country, Toshiro had seen what the snobbery was like. By all accounts, they were awful people with obscene amounts of cash and status. “It would be nerve-wracking enough to throw any kind of bash for the bride to meet the groom’s family and vice versa, but throwing a gala is just making it a nightmare for the girl.” She said, imagining what it would be like to be in that female’s footsteps. She herself had walked similar paces, even if it was in a much more toned down environment and she wasn’t getting married to anybody (even if she wanted to), but the first time she had been scheduled to meet Toshiro’s family had literally been the worst day of her life when it came to nerves. Katsumi Kimiko didn’t even know the meaning of ‘nervous’ or ‘petrified’ before that meeting it was quite safe to say; she wasn’t one to get scared about anything. At the time, she had realised the magnitude that the meeting would have, and it… scared her. It was bad enough for a girl to meet their boyfriend’s family, but it just so happened that, much like Toshiro’s mother had said, she didn’t do things by half measures. Her boyfriend’s family happens to be one of the most influential clans in the village, and there she was, just a typical girl with no high-birth background going to meet them. As it turned out, they had accepted her readily into the family, but… the nerves she had for the majority of that night were horrendous. She could sympathise wholly with the girl who would be at the gala in a week’s time.

She realised that she must have been immersed in her own thoughts for quite a while because when she snapped out of them, they had crossed onto the next leg of the journey; leaving behind the spacious dirt road and instead travelling on the thinner, well-travelled pathway that led up to the village. ‘There really is no need to rush if we don’t have to be there for a week…’ She thought bitterly with a small frown. “Ehhhhh, Hokage-sama knows that I hate these kinds of missions.” She said aloud and blinked with surprise, thinking she had said this within her own thoughts. Apparently not, and now she knew the cat was out of the bag, she might as well continue her ensuing rant. “If I’d have known how long it would all take, I would have kicked up more of a fuss which is why he didn’t tell me.” She heaved a sigh and looked at the road ahead, wishing she could see an army of bandits for her to take down instead of miles of emptiness. “At least my mission partners are worth it.” She said after the small pause, looking first at her boyfriend with a smile that was reserved only for him, and then at Rin with a different smile that wasn’t any less pleasant than the secret one she gave Toshiro. “Come on, you two, even if we do reach the capital earlier than we wish, at least we can take that opportunity to relax and gather intel from guests who will already be staying there. Plus, I’ve heard that they have fabulous restaurants there that Toshi-kun won’t mind paying for.” She added the last part sweetly but obviously at a play for mischief, flashing a cheeky grin at her boyfriend and a triumphant smirk at Rin. “I’ll need at least two days to get ready for this gala if it really is as grand as it says on the invitation; facials, massages, pedicures, manicures, a new haircut… the works. So chop-chop! Away we go!”

~ Four days later… ~

Thanks to Kimiko’s almost rocket speed, the party of three had arrived in the Fire Country’s capital in round about two days. That gave them the good parts of five days to prepare themselves for the spying and snooping around at the gala itself, and for the only female of the group, plenty of time to beautify in significant fashion. They had checked into a small inn, the owners of which were secretly affiliated to the Hinamori clan. Flashing the pin that Kimiko kept at her left breast complete with a bird hand seal had given them accommodation for as long as they needed, and false identities to boot in order to rid themselves of any affiliations that may draw suspicion at the gala when asked for their names on the doors. It wasn’t perhaps as necessary for Rin, but for the two Jounin on the mission it was indeed a must as their aliases and identities had travelled far and wide. The identities given to them, however, were… interesting to say the least. According to their expertly forged documents, Kimiko and Toshiro were married (they had played on the fact that both of them looked older than their youthful years), and Rin had been heavily debated upon after their arrival at the hotel. The wife of the husband-wife pairing that ran the place said that the Genin boy could easily get away as the son of their clients, but the husband objected because he looked too old and unfortunately the ages of Kimiko and Toshiro couldn’t be manipulated much higher than the late twenties. After quite an awkward argument that for the most part the Katsumi female spent blushing over the thought of having children (plus still very shell-shocked from happiness at being married to her significant other for the evening, even if it was to be under false identity), it was decided that the identity for Rin would be the younger brother of Toshiro. The ebony-haired woman’s name for the night would be Yazuma Himeri, which almost literally translated to Princess of Peace with some re-jigging of words and meanings, while her partner’s name would be Yazuma Tsuken, which almost literally translated to Wing Blade of Peace. Kimiko would be twenty two while she was Himeri, and Toshiro would be twenty three. Rin’s identity would be Yazuma Saneko, pretty much meaning Three Cats of Peace. He was to be his own age for the assignment, sixteen.

Because of the identities being forged with perfect precision, they could get away with staying as they were for these roles. But Kimiko was adamant that she would change in order to ‘immerse herself with the character’, and started to get in as much practise as being a pathetic snob as possible. The Yazuma family was small but wealthy by all accounts, and Tsuken’s father had recently died to leave his eldest son with all the inheritance and family name. The marriage between Tsuken and Himeri had been arranged, because of the huge dowry the female’s family had brought to the table. With their combined wealth, that was reason enough to give them a place in the gala. Tsuken’s younger brother, Saneko, was after a female to make a match with, and that was the reason why he was showing his face at the event as well. By all accounts, they were greedy, thought they were more powerful than they actually were, and quite basically; they were the type of people that Kimiko despised. With her concept given, she spent two days thinking up ways to change her appearance for the role enough for her to be unrecognisable, and on the fourth day she took off to explore the capital to make her vision a reality…

Posts : 1187

As the trio carried on with their journey Rin could not help but think about the mission in hand. Naturally he was worried but there was a growing sense of forewarning. As if something bad would happen to the purple haired boy. But he dismissed this idea as he was sure that it would all end perfectly. After all there was not a lot that could go wrong on the mission. The worst that could happen was at the end of the day the spy would elude them. That or they ended up getting the wrong guy. It happened that their destination was to be the capital of the land of Fire. They were to go to a 'gala' as Toshiro and Kimiko put it. It was a celebration for some sort of marriage that was to take place with in the firelords palace. Never in a million years had the Konoha experienced Genin dreamed that he would be going there. Both his sensei and his girlfriend seemed to be very fazed about this. He already knew that Toshiro's family was one of the most powerful and influential clans in Konoha and he got the feeling that Kimi had already been to several events like this. Rin started to wonder about what the pair had experienced together, in the sense of missions. For all he knew they had both foiled assassination attempts and other cool stuff like this. He hoped that he would have as cool of a life as they had together.

"Look! Nothing about how long it would take!" Kimiko suddenly shouted. At first Rin did not understand what the only female of the party was on about. But then he realised that there must be something shocking about the blue scroll in her hand. It seemed like she was trying to show him and Toshiro something but he could not understand what. After that the girls head hung down and her shoulders and back became hunched. She walked like this for several minutes but the youngest of the three still could not understand why. From what Kimiko had said he kind of assumed that there was something about the time it would take for them all to get there that troubled her. Hopefully it would not be too far. Because he was in no mood for a long journey by foot. That would take up way too much energy. As they continued to walk the boy yawned loudly and stretched his arms to the sky. As he rubbed his eyes Rin looked to his left shoulder and at Kuro. He had come to be at that position as soon as Kimiko had started to talk about him. The teenager could sense that his companion had taken an instant liking to the girl, as had his master. The pair could imagine the four of them doing missions like this often.

Taking off his rucksack the purple haired boy stuck his hand into it. As well as his smart clothes he had packed a few energy drinks had been added. Cracking open the can he took a few heavy swigs. In two years time Rin could legally drink. When he got to that age it would not be energy drinks in his bag, it would be alcohol. His previous experiences with beverages such as this had not been particularly pleasant. If anything he disliked the drinks that so many seemed to crave. But hopefully the drinks would grow on him. After all he did not want to be stuck drinking the same things that he had for the past nine years of his life. Obviously he would still consume the 'sugar and sweetener's in a bottle' but just not nearly as much. After telling Kimiko about himself it took a while to get a response. "Thank you, Rin. Nothing is one-sided, however, and I must say that I am very lucky to have your sensei." Rin laughed he agreed that anyone that was close to Toshiro was lucky, after all the Jounin was pretty awesome. Rin and Boney somehow both took separate tumbles down a hillside that knocked them out while out gathering supplies when we were scouting a bandit fort in Rice Country. This squirt managed to partially fracture an arm in the process and must have landed in a stream. If Kuro hadn't made enough racket to wake the dead when I was out looking for them I might have never found him face-down on the river bank where he washed up. Toshiro started "Of course Boney wasn't any better. His own cat dragged him into camp a few minutes after I had brought Rin back, and Matsunaka looked like he'd picked a fight with a cheese grater and lost. The first round and the rematch. When the follow-up mission came he was still out of action from all the stitches that made him look like a life-sized version of those rag dolls kids play with so it was just Rin to back me up on that one." Rin made un over exaggerated glum face and hung him head in shame. But forced a laugh when Toshiro said the last thing about his fellow team mate. The C rank shinobi still felt slightly guilty about that whole business in the Rice country. But despite everything that had gone wrong, it was pretty fun on the whole. Even though he had got injured on pretty much day one, he still felt quite proud of himself for sticking with it. The same could not be said about his team mate. Even though Matsunaka had also got injured he did not carry on. It was a shame really, Rin would have loved to have seen the kids fighting ability. “Very admirable, Rin.” Kimi said, she gave him another smile. She then turned then to Toshiro and shook her head with a look of slight disdain. “You really shouldn’t be too hard on Matsunaka-san. He was our team mate, once upon a time! Even if we beat him to the punch and rose up through the ranks faster than he did…”

Rin stood there in sudden shock. He had no idea that the boy that was currently in his Genin squad was once in a team with the two Jounins that he was on a mission with. A feeling of slight sadness and pity for the Kaguya began to grow in his mind. After all it must be incredibly hard for him to know that the other two members of his previous Genin team were already fully fledged Jounin. And even harder for him to serve under his previous peer. Maybe back when they had all been in the same Genin team Matsunaka had been the strongest and most promising. But he found this quite hard to believe, maybe there was a story behind the reason that Matsunaka was still a measly Genin. Either way he must have done something pretty bad to be that far behind the other two people. After downing rest of his drink Rin crushed the can agains his forehead and threw is back over his shoulder into his bag. Then twisting his body into an awkward angle he did the zip up. After clicking each of his ten fingers individually the boy carried on walking with renewed vigour. With some luck they would all reach the capital with a while to spare. He wanted to see the capital of the fire country and all it's beauty. Maybe he would even have time to go around a couple of shops and see if they sold any weapons or equipment, but that was also unlikely.

"There really is no need to rush if we don’t have to be there for a week…" Kimiko said. “Ehhhhh, Hokage-sama knows that I hate these kinds of missions.” Rin pricked up his ears at the first piece piece of information. If they were not needed for that long they would definitely get some free time in the capital before the start of the mission. That was great news, now that he knew this the prospect of getting to their destination even faster sprung fresh in his mind. “If I’d have known how long it would all take, I would have kicked up more of a fuss which is why he didn’t tell me.” The female Jounin continued. “At least my mission partners are worth it.” This made Rin feel far happier, now that he knew that Kimi did like him. “Come on, you two, even if we do reach the capital earlier than we wish, at least we can take that opportunity to relax and gather intel from guests who will already be staying there. Plus, I’ve heard that they have fabulous restaurants there that Toshi-kun won’t mind paying for.” She added the last part sweetly but obviously at a play for mischief, flashing a cheeky grin at her boyfriend and a triumphant smirk at Rin. “I’ll need at least two days to get ready for this gala if it really is as grand as it says on the invitation; facials, massages, pedicures, manicures, a new haircut… the works. So chop-chop! Away we go!”[/color] Even though the Genin did not like the idea of getting pedicures and manicures it would be fun to have some more time to himself. He certainly did not like the idea of getting a hair cut. He liked it the way it was thank you very much, and no matter of missioning would change his mind.

The road ahead was long and winding so the trio started to increase their pace. If Rin's calculations were correct (based on what he had been told) they were likely to reach the capital in about one maybe two days. Supposing that he was right it would give them about five days to themselves before the proper mission started. After a solid four hours of walking the sun was already starting to set slightly. It was important to the Genin that they reached the capital as soon as they possibly could. So even though the sun was setting, the three humans and one cat marched on towards their destination. Some time soon it would be good to find shelter to sleep in for the night but that could wait. They were now getting further into the land of fire. As they walked onwards Rin, Toshiro, Kimiko and Kuro passed small villages and perfect scenery. When they did finally stop it was to stay in a small inn, quite a few miles outside of the capital. Doing a quick mental approximation Rin worked out that it would take them a couple of hours to finally reach the capital. But first they all needed a well earned rest. After all they had been walking for most of the day, he had not noticed at first but now it felt as if his legs were on fire. They all shared a room in this inn, even though he doubted that the other to particularly liked that idea, it would have cost a small fortune for them to have separate rooms.

***
Four days later

Rin awoke before the other two, after throwing on a t-shirt he padded barefoot down the hallway towards the small kitchen. Once he arrived there the boy looked at the menu. He was not in the mood for anything fancy and he did not really want to waste Toshiro's money. So in the end he simply got cereal. After jumping onto one of the bar stools he sat there slurping the milk and chunks of wheat. After looking around the room he realised that he was the only one down there. In that case they were the only ones staying in the inn, or it was quite early. It would explain why the other two seemed like they were out cold. Scanning the room for a clock Rin's eyes finally settled on a clock at the south end of the room. It was half past seven yet light outside, as soon as he had eaten all of his breakfast the purple haired boy went over to the side class door and opened it. He stepped out onto a patio and then a lawn. Dew from the previous night had settled all around. Wriggling his toes the boy stretched out his arms and arced his back so that it made a clicking sound. He had always loved the feel of morning's like this. Cold air, wet feet, light sun shining on you, to him this was a sign that the next few days would be good.

The party of three had set off at around nine, and thanks to Kimiko pushing them to go faster had arrived in the capital in around twelve. Which meant that Rin's hope of having plenty of free time had come true, as altogether they had five days and a bit. They checked into yet another inn, this one seemed to be a bit nicer than the previous one. It was nice and seemed a lot older which was cool. Upon their arrival Kimiko had shown the owner's one of her gold pin's which had allowed them to pass through. Rin began to wonder what that pin actually meant and did. For their own safety on the mission they each had to have fake identities. The youngest member of the group had found this very exciting, he had never had to take up a fake name before and the experience - even though it was a small one - was awesome. He assumed that he did not really need one but nonetheless his name for the mission was Yazuma Saneko, he was to be the brother of Yazuma Tsuken. For the purpose of the mission the two Jounin would be married, but this did not really affect Rin in any way.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Wise men often say that there are some things that man was not meant to know. Usually those things are the sort that violate the natural order or place the universe's very existence in jeopardy. To that list Toshiro would add both Kimiko's boundless energy and that for some reason nothing ever stayed straight-forward when she was involved. The white haired jounin had intended to attend the whole affair as himself, courtesy his father passing the buck, with the usual "spouses/ escort plus one guest" clause covering the other two. A simple plan that didn't take whole lot of preparation. After two days (the missing day and a half he put down to "Kimiko-time") of travel that was a blur he was face to face with a change in that plan. Actually it as more like the simple plan had been thrown out a fifth floor window in chains as Toshiro abruptly found himself years older, married (even if it was to the one person he didn't mind), and with a younger brother - oh and a completely different person. At least for the run-up to and duration of the gala. An effort to have summed up the jounin's thoughts about this sudden change would have been laced with words like "disbelief", "irritation", and "outright shock" before "resignation" closed things up. Why resignation? It had a lot to do with who he suspected was behind the whole idea to have himself and Kimiko "married" - one Momo Hinamori. Toshiro had no doubt that somehow his mother had gotten wind of this assignment and seen it as a perfect way to give the pair a "gentle nudge" in what she saw as the right direction. And if there was one characteristic that Kimiko and his mother shared it was always getting their way when they really wanted it.

So with four days until "G-day" Toshiro had gone about the grunt work that that was needed before the actual event. Grunt work that he was best suited for since a good portion of it involved the branch of his clan who served the Fire Lord directly in the capacity euphemistically called "trouble-shooters". In a dozen face-to-face meetings with as many kinsmen in locations ranging from a park bench (complete with newspapers) to an upscale cafe, the snow-haired jounin had garnered both useful information and assurances. Most of the information was on the various party-goers whose loyalty to their nation could be considered suspect, including one particularly promising character - a minor functionary named Kanto Akira whose activities were very suspect. The assurances were that none of his kin would blow the Leaf-nin's cover and that if things came down to a fight they would see to getting the guests out of the line of fire first. After that the rest of those two days had been hammering out details and reinforcing his cover. The later had included a change of appearance (light brown hair and blue eyes thanks to the miracle of hair dye and contacts) and other small details that should (in theory) keep any casual acquaintance from connecting Yazuma Tsuken - wealthy minor noble and avid hunter - to the veteran Konoha jounin Hinamori Toshiro.

His own preparations out of the way, it was now "G-day minus three" and Toshiro was wondering if he had lost his mind. To help Kimiko and Rin go about their own preparations the male jounin had dipped into one of the accounts he had established years ago under a false name, with the result being "Yazuma Himeri" and "Yazuma Saneko" now had in their possession sizeable lines of credit to help establish their identities as prototypical wealthy snobs. It wasn't the money itself that bothered Toshiro (even combined they barely put a dent in his funds) as much as the thought of turning a Kimiko hell-bent on "getting into character" loose on an unsuspecting town armed with more ready cash than some jounin made in a year. Especially with her "character" being a snobbish noblewoman - he had no doubt that the "mixed signals" between her real personality and the one she would be assuming would cause many a shop-owner nightmares for weeks to come. That all-to-real possibility was the reason why while Kimiko had set out to "get into character", her boyfriend had found a quite cafe in the "merchant quarter" of the city and was silently drowning his worries in his fourth mug of hot chocolate with enough sugar to send most people into a diabetic coma.

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko as she started the day:

Kimiko's forged identity:

The day was airy and bright, and Kimiko had a good feeling about it in general. And that wasn’t just because her wonderful boyfriend had given her more than enough money on a tab for Yazuma Himeri. She was mainly excited due to the fact that she would be able to get away with spending a whole day relaxing and pampering herself, as rich people did. She had dressed in a slinky crimson kimono and wore her best black stockings topped with red lace to complete the rich chic she had going on, even if she wasn’t formed into the true ‘Yazuma Himeri’ yet. Her long ebony hair had been left loose to sway about her hips while she walked, and while she took great pleasure in deciding where to go first in this wonderful town with so much to do for a woman, she decided to go shopping first. Not for her role as Himeri, just… because a girl could never have too many clothes. And of course she owed it all to Toshiro. After making a mental note to ‘thank’ him later, she drifted in and out of clothing shops of the higher-classes. True to her newfound girly nature, she exited each shop with at least two shopping bags crammed with clothing and shoes of many kinds, of fine silks and expensive strappy leather heels alike. Her next calling was the local hot spring, where she spent the good parts of an hour soaking in the wonderfully warm water and lazily watching people mill in and out of the springs. She was rather unaware of the numerous jealous looks she was given by those of her gender who passed her and saw her very womanly figure underneath the practically transparent water, blissfully content wrapped up in her own world. Upon leaving the hot springs, she hopped next door to a very exclusive spa, having a full body massage and seaweed wraps in places she didn’t think were necessary. But she left with such velvety smooth skin that she didn’t question it, nor the very happy male spa assistant who had passed out from blood loss not long after she walked past him in little to no clothing.

Her next stop for the day was a beautician’s where she would have her make-up and nails seen to. In the very small boutique-type establishment, she had four women surrounding her at one time; one seeing to her face, one giving her a manicure, another giving her a pedicure, and the last one fanning her with a feathered peacock blue fan talking at her about how beautiful she was. To say that she was satisfied when she looked in the mirror at the end was an understatement to say the least. Her face was made up perfectly without even the smallest error she could find; they had used the most delicate yet effective foundations she’d ever seen that matched her skin tone perfectly, a rich rouge blusher, creamy grey smoky eyes with elaborate black flicks emphasising her deep brown orbs even more and a stunning red lipstick. She looked as if she belonged in a movie, or on stage instead of walking around in the Fire Country’s capital. Her fingernails had been painted with a glossy finish and blunted ends. On the middle fingernail on each of her hands was a small silver starburst made out of tiny gems. Her toenails had been painted a block green, not just any green, however, a gentle pastel green that accented her dress and the rest of her outfit perfectly. Even if nobody would see them… but that was of course beside the point. She started to roll up her stockings when she was stopped and had two women roll them up for her, fastening them in place and dusting down all of her clothing with an immaculate feather duster of all things. ‘The rich sure are strange…’ She thought to herself but smiled politely at both women who bowed and then sidled away without a trace of even being there. ‘As well as creepy…’ She made her way up to the small counter to pay for everything, stating her name and pulling out a wad of money large enough to probably feed a small village for weeks. And yet it only just managed to pay the bill. “Thank you very much, Yazuma-san, your business here is much appreciated.” The boutique owner said, speaking with an annoying nasal voice that made Kimiko almost visibly twitch. With perfect self-restraint, she smiled instead and held her head up higher than normal so that she could look down her nose at the woman behind the counter. “Because I am new to this… city, I would like to know if you have any recommendations for hair stylists around here.” Her voice was completely convincing; it was as if she had been raised as a snob all her life.

There was a slight pause while the woman with a speech impediment blinked her dull grey eyes wide and then coughed as if she had understood the question all along. Needless to say, she wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box; she just knew how to use speech to make it seem as if she was. “Oh yes, I have a good friend of mine whose salon is only down this street. I’ll ring ahead and tell her that you’ll be coming; she’ll be thrilled to have someone of such… importance in her care.” Her smile was so wide and so ugly it could have soured milk, and her teeth were less than something to be desired. “The salon’s name is Aka; you can’t miss it.” She continued and then curtsied in farewell. Kimiko copied the action, thanked the woman while still managing to make it sound condescending like all rich people did, and left the boutique with a walk that either suggested that A) she had the worst wedgie imaginable, or B) she was a hoity toity rich person who had been taught to walk by a spastic duck (and even that was an insult to ducks). But from her observations, all those with money had this gait, and she would copy it down to a T. While she strolled down the road at the slowest pace possible, she noticed that people instinctively steered well clear of her, standing back and gaping in awe as they knew that somebody of great importance passed in their wake. ‘Anybody could pretend to be a rich snob and people would be in awe of them too.’ She thought to herself, looking at a small boy from such a height that took the phrase ‘looking down one’s nose’ to new levels.

Even at her ridiculously slow pace, she reached the salon mentioned by the boutique owner in no time at all. It was indeed called Aka, and to suit its name the whole front of the building was painted red. Windows seemed to make up most of the walls, flaunting the wealthy clientele that the salon hosted on a daily basis, and showing off the expensive nature of the place. ‘Here we go...’ Kimiko thought with an inward groan, knowing that this would be painful. Upon her entrance, a large, very busty woman who was probably in her late fifties bustled to meet her. “Ah, you must be Yazuma-san!” The strange woman cooed as if she had known Kimiko, or in this case Himeri, her whole life. She did that typical ‘kiss both cheeks’ action and her new client had no option but to oblige before being led into the salon properly. “My name is Basameru Akami; what can I do for you today?” She purred, returning to the sleek black countertops at the back of the establishment and leaning on them in what could be described as a seductive manner. It would have been, if she was remotely attractive, under the age of twenty five and not one hundred pounds overweight. Unfortunately she wasn’t ticking any of the aforementioned boxes. Kimiko stood tall, her shoulders back and her chest pushed right out as if to emphasise that she was the dominant woman here through her chest size; it seemed to work because the woman who owned this salon, Akami, backed down from her previous ‘superior’ stance and instead stood meek and mild waiting for the newcomer to speak. “I would like you to surprise me with a fresh new look and style. I will be attending the gala in three days time held by the Lord of this country and have every right to steal the show.” She spoke in a varying pitch of high and low to emphasise points, dragging words out and using her hands in different flapping motions to add to this. “If I do not like the new look, you will hear about it.” Her tone changed to one of menace, well, all the menace that a high-class snobby woman could put across because in actual fact she wouldn’t do anything for fear of breaking a nail.

Within minutes Kimiko was seated in a salon chair in spite of numerous customers waiting, but none of them complained. They had probably heard her feigned grandeur earlier and didn’t wish to get on the wrong side of an influential woman who didn’t actually exist. Of course the rich snobs around here would pretend that they had heard all about a woman named Yazuma Himeri in order to get into her good books, when as a matter of fact they would know that they had heard no such name. During the time that she had her hair tended to, Kimiko almost drifted off into her own world yet again, not paying much attention to anything else around her. She barely smelt the ammonia-rich hair dye that was slapped all over her beautiful ebony locks, or felt half of her hair’s weight leave her head. As such, when she was turned to a full length mirror to see her transformation, she was in such shock that should she not have been wearing make-up, her face would appear blanched white in terror. She thought she was looking at a different person and was about to ask them to move out of the way when she realised… she was looking at herself. Her hair had been bleached bright blonde, and she could still smell the ammonia that still linger potent enough to make her eyes water slightly. She knew for a fact how stubborn her hair was for in the past she had attempted to dye it, and it had always come up fruitless. The woman who had styled her hair must have lathered the dye on and pretty much killed all of her hair in the process. In spite of that, it looked healthy and glossy; falling now to just past her shoulders, reaching her shoulder blades at her back. Considering that at the start of the day her hair had swayed proudly at her waist, this was a huge change. It was almost like having her old tomboyish crop back in comparison. It had been curled in a casual wave to change the style even more; her hair was naturally straight and this was a complete change to how she almost always wore it. Her bangs swept just above her left eye, signifying that her parting had been changed to the side in order to make this possible.

She didn’t see Katsumi Kimiko staring back at her in the mirror. She saw Yazuma Himeri.

“Wonderful.” She found herself saying without having control of her voice or lips. She jumped up out of the chair and ignored the remains of what had been her long, proud ebony locks on the floor around her chair. She thanked Akami, the annoying salon owner, and handed over the money with a flourish as if the money were intended for a basic supply of groceries. She picked up her numerous shopping bags and left the salon, walking with all the confidence that her character exuded because of her wealth and influence, and just about managed to keep horror from her face while she racked her brain for where Toshiro would be. A small café, right? It must be; that was sticking out in her mind and she knew it must be for a reason. He had told her where it was, and she started to follow the verbal directions he had given her earlier that day. She had left their place of temporary residence at nine o’clock that morning, and now it was fast approaching four o’clock in the early evening. But it wasn’t that she was worried about. All she kept seeing in shop windows was a different person that she didn’t recognise, and she kept coming to terms with the fact that it was her. This new person was her. She hurried to the café, forgetting about her stupid walk in order to get there much faster. Upon reaching the establishment, she sheepishly pushed open the door that tinkled to announce her arrival. Judging by the stares she received from the males in the place, it was obvious that women were a rarity in here, let alone those of a high class. She gingerly cleared her throat and threw the staring men glares that soon returned them to their own business, and crossed the café to where she saw her boyfriend to be sitting. For a brief couple of moments she stood there, staring at him and holding her shopping bags as if not quite knowing what to do. She wondered if he recognised her for one thing, and before he could protest if he didn’t, she flung herself down in the spare seat opposite him and buried her face in her crossed arms on the table with a small groan. “I didn’t tell them to change my hair THIS much…” She whined as she resurfaced again, checking her face in the window’s reflection to check and see if her make-up had been smudged. Thankfully it hadn’t. “Now I’m blonde and my hair’s probably buggered…” She sighed deeply, raising a hand and twirling a few strands of her now-bright-blonde curls around her fingers. On her ring finger, she spotted the rock of diamond on a ring that made her identity real; effectively marrying her to her significant other. Just seeing it made her cheeks heat up, and she pouted slightly while hiding her face in shame and waiting for the red on her face that wasn’t induced by blusher to calm down.

Posts : 1187

The day was bright and Yazuma Saneko had money lining his pockets. He had been walking around for quite some time now and nothing had really caught his eye. But of course Yazuma Saneko was not his true identity, this alias had been taken up for the purpose of this mission. His real name was Tsukiyomi, Rin a Konoha born shinobi who was playing the role of a pompous rich boy on his latest assignment. The shopping district of the capital was rammed full of people, normal people who were going about their boring old lives. But not the purple haired boy, apparently the outfit for the 'ceremony' that he had bought along was not good enough. So he had been told to go out and select new some new fancy articles of clothing. Maybe also buy some new casual clothes as well and some cool stuff for himself. There was shops of every single variety in this part of town. Some for clothes, some for games, some for confectionary, everything that the body wanted, nothing the soul needed. As Rin continued his journey deeper into the heart of the capital of the leaf country he looked at all the different people doing jobs. There were cooks, cleaners, shop owners and business men. "It must be boring not being a shinobi," Rin said aloud to him self. "Not knowing what it is like to do missions or serving your village." One old lady gave him a sour loom as if she had heard what he had said and taken it the wrong way. But most likely she had not heard it, after all she was probably too old to hear anything. Rin was careful to not say the last part out loud. As the boy walked on he saw what looked like a small shop selling food and drink so he stepped inside.

A yellow sun shone out onto the capital of one of the largest countries in the Shinobi world. It seemed as if everyone was happy and having a good day, but it is often hard to tell people's emotions from looking at their face. Take Tsukiyomi, Rin for example even though he was wearing a warm smile, on the inside he was almost sick with worry. He had been invited on a mission with his Genin team leader and his girlfriend. However this was no normal mission, this involved intercepting a spy at one of the biggest events possible, a marriage into the royal family. Even though the mission had not really even started yet the boy was still worried about all the things that could go wrong. In fact that was pretty much all he had been thinking about recently. He was currently walking around the capital trying to get some clothes for the ceremony when he had fancied a drink of water. Having just walked into a small shop he had expected to see a cute little serving point and some food and drinks stacked neatly on shelves - this is how most of the shops were in Konoha-, but the inside was nothing like the quite little place that it had looked from the outside. There was nothing but rows of food as far as the eye could see. It seemed as if there was enough in here to feed a large village for years. The shop was one of the places that you could get lost in extremely easily as everything looked exactly the same. In any normal place the simple task of getting a bottle of water would be easy, but not here. It took Rin about five minutes to find the section with the drinks, and a further three to find the water. After stopping to pay for it he took time from his busy schedule to chat up the shop assistant, in vain. The way he saw it was chances are he would never see the girl ever again so he might as well. After getting outside the Genin cracked open his water and took three long gulps, It was now that his day officially started.

So far his day had consisted of getting up, eating, exercising then going out. The inn in which the trio were staying had not exactly been where the purple haired boy had been expecting to stay. Because of the importance of the mission he had assumed that they would have been in some fancy hotel, but he could not really complain. The food was great at the inn, the people were nice and his bed was comfortable. It was saving them money and probably time. Kimiko the only female member of the trio was also going out today. He was not really sure what Toshiro would be doing but he knew for definite that Kimiko was out. She would probably be doing something like getting her hair done and some make up. She was really going to treat her self and would definitely be living up to her role of rich, pompous woman. She would probably go to some spa sessions and other stuff like that. Speaking of spas, maybe if he had enough time and money he could go to the hot springs. That would be nice as he could think thighs over in the hot water and maybe it would clear away his nerves. Toshiro had given him money for the new clothes and he had some of his own money to spend. Rin was wearing his tie, shirt and non-jean trousers and smartest shoes. After all he could not go into a designer clothe shop in scruffy casuals and buy a suit that was worth hundreds or maybe even thousands of ryo. After asking a rather disgruntled old couple where the best designer suit shop was he found himself in a bright white shop. There were a few paintings here and there, but apart from them everything was white. Manikins wearing pristine wedding dresses were lined up in rows, others with tailored white and black suits. Striding up to the counter Rin adopted the walk and posture of a rich snob. It was kind of hard to imagine, given what he was wearing but he had to try his hardest to appear as if he was not doing this as a joke. The girl behind the counter had extraordinarily large black hair and long raid nails. She was sharpening them which made her seem all the more sinister. She looked up at him as if to say 'what the hell do you want?' So putting on his thickest 'rich man's accent' he begun. "I have been sent here by my brother to buy a new suit, for the pleasantries at the palace tonight."

As soon as he had said the last part the woman seemed to shoot up out of her seat. She instantly greeted him and took him by the arm in order to get measured. Rin was instructed to take off his shirt and tie. He was lead to one of the fanciest changing rooms that he had ever seen in his life. He honestly did not see the point in having a television, water dispenser and vanity cabinet in a changing cubicle. After all it was only a changing cubicle. If he could help it he would spend as little money as possible in this shop. Firstly he did not really like the people here, they scared him a bit. Secondly he wanted as much money as possible to buy some clothes that he would wear more than once. And finally he wanted to have enough money to go to the hot springs later on. He inspected himself in the mirror and laughed, if you had told him a few years ago that he would be in the capital of the fire country going to the palace he would never have believed you. As well as taking off his shirt Rin slipped off his shoes and socks. Opening the partition he stepped out onto the carpeted floor, it felt like walking on spring grass. As soon as he got out there was three women fussing over him. Taking measurements of every inch of his body with yellow tape. The scary woman returned with fancy looking suit claiming it was exactly his size. It was actually several sizes too small and despite her loudest protests the purple haired shinobi demanded that he was given a new one. The next one was indeed perfect but Rin almost did a double take when he found out the asking price. Chances were it would take him hours in this hellhole before he found a suitable suit. After the next six he was ready to give up, or hit the woman in the face. Either one would have relieved him of the stress which he was currently being put under. But he knew that Toshiro and Kimiko would be angry with him if he did not come back with a suit. It was not until for the next four candidates until a cheap, good suit was found. He paid for it as fast as he could and left swiftly. "Thank god I can finally get out of this mad house. One more minute with these creepy people and I could go insane."

He folded up his new suit and tucked it inside his old bag. That would be another good thing to get, a bag. Because the suit had not ended up costing half as much as he had first thought, the boy still had plenty of money left over. Draining the last of his water Rin through the bottle in a bin and set off in the direction of a cool looking shop that he had seen on his way here. It was about five minutes before he reached the shop named Ruto Ichi. Inside was like a kind of teenage heaven. There were hats, jumpers and t-shirts of a wide variety. Strolling over to the hats he looked at each of them, there were some pretty cool ones he had to admit. Although none of them could even compare with his custom beanie. He picked up a four of the coolest t-shirts he could find from a long rack of clothes. After swinging them over his left shoulder the boy continued to look at all the possible new clothes. As he looked about Rin started to think about what he could do with the day. It was nearly lunch time and and there was not a lot more that he wanted to do today. Maybe he would finish off his shopping first. Then get a large lunch, go to the hot springs for a while and finally do some training. Maybe if Toshiro was available he could do some practise sparring with him. Another option would be to ask the guy behind the counter if there was anything that he recommended.

A burgundy-redish zip up hoody as well as a green one were the next articles of clothing that caught the teenagers eye. He lifted it up off it's hook and put it in the over the rapidly growing pile of clothes over his shoulders. Then two new pairs of trousers were added as well as a pack of socks with the day's of the week written along the top. He liked the idea of having different socks for each day, it amused him. Rin walked over to the last section of the shop, shoes. It made him feel quite feminine, buying all these different clothes. But he had money to spend and he was going to spend it. The boy already owned four pairs of shoes, smart ones, casuals, sports and his shinobi sandals. He felt like those last ones did not really count as the were a part of his experienced Genin attire. But luckily - as if to save his manliness from total collapse - no shoes caught his eye. He walked to the counter to pay and bought the large pile. "Damn I don't have any room in my bag," Rin suddenly started. "You wouldn't have any other bag's I could use?" The man behind the counter looked at him and then at the bag slung over his shoulders. "If you wanted an entirely new bag there are some in the other room. He said.
"There's another room?" Rin asked in amazement."What does it sell?"
"Just bags, skateboards and other stuff like that." The man replied and indicated to a set of doors behind him.

The double doors opened up into a smaller but no less cooler room. In this place was things such as bags, skateboards and skating protection. When he was about seven or so Rin had owned a skateboard. His mum had bought it for him in the hope that he would practise instead of troubling her. In the end he had gotten alright, but the boy had not skated for many a year. Maybe he could get back into it which would be fun, what would be even better was if he could incorporate skating in with parkour. He walked over to the wall stacked high with skateboards and gazed up at each of them in awe. Rin saw some brands that he recognised and picked a few up. It was heavy in his hands so he put it down and tried to stand on it. Well at least he could still do that with out to much fuss. He tried to go around the room but he wobbled a bit and lost control. Still it would be cool to practise and get good. After two more goes around the room Rin was starting to get the hang of it. After flicking the board up into his hand and tucked it under his arm he picked up a black and green bag. Once he got back to the counter he paid for the next two items and tucked all his new clothes into his new bag.

Finally on his list of things to do today was to go to the hot springs. But after buying the new skateboard he had decided that maybe after that he could see if there was any where to practise. Because of the total worth of the content in his bag Rin decided to go back to his room at the inn. Just to drop all his stuff off and maybe get changed, in order to see what all his new stuff looked like on him. To be honest it was quite stupid that he had not already done so but it did not really matter. It would take him about ten minutes to get up to the inn by foot, but then it hit him. He had a skateboard now, that would definitely speed up his process. The only problem was that he did not want to make a fool of himself in front of people. "Oh well." He said to himself. Dropping the board the boy started to use his foot to push himself along. At first he was wobbling and shaking al around the place and he definitely did look like a fool. But he managed to get into a rhythm and was soon making good progress. It seemed as if it was all coming back to him slowly but surely. It took him about seven minutes to arrive at his destination and as soon as he got inside he began to run. The boy bolted up the wooden stairs to get to his room as quickly as possible. He then chucked his bag on his bed and slid the skateboard under his bed with his foot. Unbuttoning his shirt for the second time that day Rin pulled it over his head and placed it over the chair on one corner of the room. With his shirt he also put his tie and trousers over the makeshift clothes stand. He unzipped his new bag and emptied out all of his new clothes. Then he took out the fancy clothes for the event and put them neatly on clothes hangers and locked them inside the wardrobe. After that the boy picked up his new t-shirts and walked over to the mirror. Trying them on one by one Rin discovered that each of them suited him which was good news. For the rest of the day the experienced Genin decided to wear the second t-shirt. This had a picture of a wolf's head on and it had a tight fit. He then tried on each of his new jumpers and decided to go with the green one. Then he threw on one of the new pairs of trousers grabbed his skateboard and money and left for the hot springs.

With half of the money that he had left over Rin paid for the opportunity to go in supposedly one of the nicest hot springs in the world. But that was only if you believed one of the people who had rated it. Considering that the boy had not actually been in that many hot springs in his time it probably would be the best. Locking up all his clothes in a locker big enough to fit a human Rin changed into a bathing costume and headed out. There was about five separate pools, ranked in order of temperature. Because the weather was quite hot today the teen decided to go into the third pool. He cautiously stepped into the pool and then relaxed into it almost sinking. For a hot spring pool it really was quite deep. Leaning back against a small wall he sunk down until his face was just sticking out of the pool and sighed a great sigh of relaxation. He stayed in that position for almost an hour until he felt like getting out. The experience in the hot spring was one of the most relaxing times of his entire life. But after he had towelled off and got redressed the boy grabbed his skateboard and headed off to find a place where he could practise until he was bruised and battered all over.

*3058 words Aww yeah

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Well into his sixth mug by the time his now-blonde girlfriend walked into the cafe, Toshiro had initially only been briefly distracted from his misery. Like pretty much every male eye, his own had immediately "checked out" the blonde vision when she entered the establishment where he had been drowning his worries. Shoulder-length blonde hair around an devilsh angel's face, figure to die for that no amount of clothing could completely hide, and a way of moving that made it clear that you couldn't have it but made you oh so want it. If he wasn't already taken and in a better state of mind Toshiro might have been tempted to look a bit longer even with the venomous glares that originated from the woman's brown eyes. So instead of enjoying the unusual, at least by the cafe's standards, scenery the male jounin's eyes had just started drifting back to his mug when they abruptly shot back up. 'Could it...' Another and more focused look quickly roused suspicions about just who this "stranger" was, and those suspicions where confirmed when the blonde vision strode to the table Toshiro was seated at and sat down before assuming a pose of abject misery to match the tone of a voice he knew very well. What came on the heels of that was all he needed to start piecing together why his beloved not only looked different but seemed upset by the whole thing.

Apparently Kimiko had, as expected, gotten fully "into character" to the point of going to the sort of expensive salon that most of the wealthy went to. No doubt at some point she had asked the proprietor for advice on which local to have her hair fixed and gotten directions to some distant relation or friend of the owner. The... unexpected results of that visit were proof that Kimiko had no major experience with the reason that, while Toshiro was most certainly wealthy, her boyfriend only rarely frequented the places which catered to such people. Why? Because the vast majority of them wouldn't know quality anything if it hit them upside the head with a battle-flag. The same could be said about actual respect for their customers - they might fawn and scrap but they sure didn't listen to what their customers asked for. The result of which left the male jounin torn between proper sympathy for his obviously miserable girlfriend's situation, and his twisted sense of humor that saw the irony of the situation. After what might have been only second or several minutes a compromise between the competing outlooks was reached, one that left him sporting a borrowed smirk. "Should I deliver the declaration of blood-feud or would you rather have that pleasure yourself?"

Confident that if the words themselves didn't get Kimiko out of her misery then the casual way her boyfriend offered to declare what amounted to a private war would, Toshiro's next move was typical him - blunt and to the point. One hand over Kimiko's he leaned forward until the two were not quite nose-to-nose, his next words were just loud enough to be heard by neighboring tables. "Honestly dear, you still look great and if you don't believe me ask the other patrons sneaking glances when they think I'm not looking." Leaning back and waving over one of the staff (distant kin like the owner of the cafe) Toshiro didn't try to hide the increase in his smirk at the muttered "he didn't have to be blunt about it" and "selfish lucky bastard" that came from nearby tables. "Besides, if you want that undone I'm sure mother has a way to fix it." While he waited for his better half to make her order (otherwise he would just have to order for her), Toshiro went with his attempt to convincing Kimiko that things weren't quite as bad as they could be. "She probably has more way to remove or add color to and from hair along with quickly growing it than anyone. My sisters saw to that necessity."

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko had been in so deep with her despair that she didn’t fully notice her boyfriend’s change of appearance. She had recognised him through instinct alone and only now that her misery had subsided a little did she notice that instead of his shocking white hair, he sported light brown, and his eyes (which were darker now than they used to be) were back to a similar blue hue that had always been so characteristic to Toshiro. Her eyes barely blinked in the moments she drank in this new boyfriend of hers; it did honestly seem like he was a new person even if he hadn’t gone as far into character as she obviously had. Even though the change was not a bad one, it was just so… different. Then again, in comparison to her change, her boyfriend might as well have just worn some sunglasses to change his appearance. From a deep, ebony black, her hair was bleach blonde and hacked off to her shoulders when it used to hang at her waist. Her deep brown eyes were still the same, but she had some contacts back at the hotel to wear that made her orbs a dusty blue, mainly because no matter how shocking the blue colour the brown underneath managed to darken the contacts. Subconsciously she started to twirl her fake wedding ring around her ring finger on her left hand, stroking the diamond while her eyes softened looking at Toshiro. The initial heat on her cheeks from realising that if she was being true to role she would be married to this man had not subsided, leaving her with a slightly breathless, rosy colour. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn’t hear Toshiro’s joke about making a blood-feud with who had transformed her so drastically, and it took her a good few seconds to realise it had been said.

She blinked her chocolate orbs wide a few times, as if trying to register what had been said, and her glossed lips finally cracked into a small half-smile. It may have just been a joke, but she couldn’t help but see the endearing side of what Toshiro had made fun about. He was always so protective of her whenever she was unhappy about something, and that made her insides feel all mushy and gooey (in a nice way) just thinking about it. “I don’t think something so drastic is needed when it comes to my hair.” She let a small giggle slip, and she had cheered up needless to say. But she was still feeling a bit alienated from herself, as odd as that sounds, and whenever her eyes caught her reflection in the window, she couldn’t help but do a double-take all over again. She made a mental note to not speak Toshiro’s name while they were out in public, because it would let their covers slip. Luckily for them, the other men in the café hadn’t seemed to notice Kimiko’s earlier tantrum about her drastic change. To them, it could just be another prissy woman whining about her new bad haircut. In all fairness, the girl did suit the blonde colour, but it was the issue that it was so different and so startling when she wanted nothing but to blend in with the rest at the gala. If one were to study her closely enough, they would pick out some features that matched those of Katsumi Kimiko, and she was dreading whether that would happen or not. Then again, even Toshiro had to do a couple of double-takes before he realised it was her, and he knew her better than anybody in this world (in many senses of the word…). She was taken by surprise when she felt her boyfriend’s hand atop her own, and he leant closer to her to say that she still looked good by his standards, and the rest of the café agreed with him. When he mentioned that some of the men were sneaking glances when they thought he wasn’t looking, Kimiko glanced to the side to see some very embarrassed-looking males glancing away with angry mutters about being caught.

Toshiro went on to reassure her that his mother would have a way to fix her hair dye problem, and that did make her smile a bit hearing such a reassurance. In all truthfulness, she had forgotten about Momo and her uncanny ability to fix most things that went wrong, maybe because she assumed hair styling would be the last thing on the woman’s mind. As the Hinamori clan’s matriarch, Momo had enough on her plate alongside being a mother to her own children, and to her son’s girlfriend, so somehow it didn’t occur to said girlfriend that a solution for hair dye mishaps would be high up on the priority list. Apparently it was. A member of the waiting staff drifted over to their table with a small notepad and pen, obviously waiting for Kimiko’s beverage order since Toshiro had his own mug to drink yet. “Green tea, please.” The new-blonde girl said politely before returning her attention to her boyfriend once more. The young man bobbed his head while scribbling the order down, moving back to where he had been stationed before in order to prepare the order himself. Toshiro went on to say that his mother had more experience with hair because of his sisters, and that made the Katsumi laugh at the thought of it. Girls were of course known for daring hair dying experiments and haircuts, but more often than not they went horribly wrong. “Hopefully it’ll all come out in a few washes.” She said with a little smile to show her optimistic thoughts on the matter now that she had cheered up enough. It was of course, thanks to her boyfriend that she was able to feel better so quickly after despairing so much only moments ago. It didn’t take long for her steaming pot of green tea and set of drinking china to arrive, and she was left to enjoy her hot beverage alongside her boyfriend. The café was quieter now, as while the couple had been speaking a few men had walked out, leaving only two in the establishment on the opposite side of the room. It wasn’t advisable, of course, to be speaking about missions or top secret information in a public place, but Kimiko was rather sure that they would be safe to do so. And besides, Toshiro was in this café because he knew kin that worked here, so she knew that whatever they said would be covered up nicely.

While focusing on pouring herself a cup of fragrant green tea, and cleared her throat softly and raised her eyes to briefly meet Toshiro’s. “We only have three more days until it gets underway, right?” She put a little more emphasis on the word ‘it’ in order to make it obvious what she was speaking about. It was of course, the gala and their mission. Even though she despised under-cover missions and doing things on the down-low, she found herself becoming more and more excited for this task. Number one, it involved a fancy gala. And number two, she was to be a completely different person to Katsumi Kimiko, so that assurance made sure that she wouldn’t blow her cover as soon as she arrived. If she were to be putting on an act, she would do it to the best of her ability to avoid her cover being blown, along with her boyfriend’s and his student’s. “And do you know where Rin is?” She lowered her voice a little more to barely above a whisper, just to make sure that nobody would overhear the real name of their mission partner. It had been mentioned this morning what the Genin would be venturing out to do, but she had forgotten and that annoyed her. She had told herself to remember what each of her mission partners were to be doing today so that she knew where to find them in an emergency. As it happens, such an event hadn’t transpired, but she would like to know where the kid was lurking around the Fire Country’s capital just in case. She also wanted to know if he would arriving at the café any time soon, or whether he would be heading back to their hotel. She ignored the bowl of sugar brought with her pot of tea, and stirred the fresh mixture around inside her mug. When all strains of tea leaves were long since removed, she lifted the cup to her lips and took a small sip, smiling as she was satisfied with the taste. To say that this café was only small, and on the merchant’s side of town, they did make good green tea. ‘Maybe I should ask if they could send me home with some of the tea they brew here…’ She thought, realising that the beverage had a different twist in it when compared to the other varieties she bought back in Konoha.

{OOC: Next posts after this round of posting will be the gala and the mission itself, unless we feel that there would need to be any extra events to happen. Let me know by PM or Skype if this is the case.}

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Watching as Kimiko gradually overcame the despondency from her "make over", Toshiro hide his own smirk behind his mug. His girlfriend's ability to bounce back from the depths of despair never ceased to surprise him or leave him feeling just a little bit more confident. After all, if she wasn't going to let something keep her down then how could he, who had a number of advantages she didn't, do less? Mood suitably brightened by the person across from him, Toshiro was only peripherally aware of steady clearing of the cafe until the only clients left besides himself and Kimiko were another couple who showed no signs of even acknowledging the existence of the disguised Konoha-nin. Still he waited until several staff members just "happened" to start cleaning a table between the two couples, forming a wall against prying eyes with their bodies that he leaned forward to answer Kimiko's question with a whispered response of his own. "I sent him out to get some clothes better suited for the event, and to have some fun before it's show time. I told him where to find us if he gets into trouble." A quick glance out the corner of his eye to confirm that his kin were still blocking the other couples view, Toshiro kept his voice low while providing as much of the plan he and his kinsmen had crafted. "Three days actually. The party starts at four and my cousins have promised to arrange how many ever delays needed to make sure we're among the first to enter." Eyes still on Kimiko, Toshiro used one hand to remove several sheets of paper from a pocket inside his jacket that were then passed across the table to his better half before a terse explanation was given. "According to them, he's the one need to watch to find the go-between."

Leaving Kimiko to do as she needed with the photograph and assorted information about one Kanto Akira, Toshiro was in the process of taking another drink when the cafe manager entered the room. Taking barely a second to locate the person he sought, the non-descript (if one ignored hands that sported tell-tale calluses), he was soon at Toshiro's side. A perfunctory and unnecessary cough to get the pairs attention and the older male of at least forty leaned over and spoke just above a whisper. "Excuse me sir, but there is a messenger who claims to have an urgent missive from your uncle Kijiko waiting in the lobby." While most would snicker at the name of the supposed source of the message, the undercover jounin's forced laugh was at odds with the sudden tightening around his eyes and the brief flash of concern in those forest-green orbs. In truth there had never been, and would never be, a "Kijiko" in the Hinamori because the name was used solely as a watch-word between clan members. Setting down his mug and doing his best to convey the sort of put-upon air mixed with long-suffering tolerance for a "beloved uncle's" antics, Toshiro inclined his head to indicate that he understood before pushing his chair back and rising to his feet. Sighing once more, Toshiro put one hand on his girlfriends shoulder before excusing himself from the table. "Dearest uncle never did understand that finding a mole in his beloved garden doesn't constitute a crisis. I'll be back soon." With that he walked past the other couple and through a door marked "staff only". As soon as Toshiro was out of sight the other couple got to their feet and left the cafe, paying on the way out with air of someone with a purpose that wouldn't wait.

Just in time too because as soon as the door was closed (completing a simple sound-dampening seal) a reverberating shout came from the doorway Toshiro had exited through. "He did WHAT?! This had better be a joke!" In the stunned silence that followed that outburst those listening (including the staff that had been busing tables) could hear half of a conversation thanks to the raised voice one participant. "You aren't joking?" "Okay. I'll tell her. You come up with some cover story to explain why he's not there." "What sort of story? You're the expert - make something up." "Yes yes, add it to my tab. Shesh. Just get it done or I'll see that your next promotion is to penguin ambassador in the most kami-foresaken part of Yuki no Kuni I can find." On the heels of that dire threat (dire since the Hinamori were, like their summons, intolerant of extremes of temperature) Toshiro stomped back out the door. It was a good thing that the other patrons had already left because there was absolutely no way that anyone would think the jounin the prototypical noble. Not with the paint-blistering curses he was muttering and the way his hands were clenched hard enough for the knuckles to turn white. No, Toshiro looked more like a trained killer one step short of going on a rampage than a haughty and pretentious nobleman. A description that wasn't too far off even as he sat gracelessly back in the chair across from Kimiko before scooping up his mug and draining half its contents in a very un-refined manner. So bolstered, the jounin took a moment to collect his thoughts before breaking the almost-worst-case news to his partner (in many ways). "Kimi, why did I agree to take on a genin team in the first place? Especially with two genin who spend more time in the hospital caused by tripping over their own feet than enemy action?" Before she could answer Toshiro moved into the reason why he was having second (or fifty-third if anyone was keeping track) thoughts about his decision to become a jounin-sensei. Left to his own devices, Rin had indeed managed to get "bruised and battered" but not through training. Apparently the squirt of Bravo Cell had ended up wandering too close to the capital's entertainment district and while distracted by a sight he wasn't used to had ended up have a collision with a run-away ox cart that left him with looking like a side of tenderized beef, sporting several broken ribs, and a fairly serious concussion while Kuro had escaped unscathed save for the feline's dignity. "His cat raised enough of a ruckus that some kinsmen came to investigate the commotion and ended up taking both of them to a safe house. Rin will recover given time but for now they've confined him to a bed there until it's safe to move him to Konoha." By the time he finished recounting the story his kin had pieced together, Toshiro had both elbows on the table with his face in his palms and his thumbs rubbing his temples as if anticipating the oncoming migraine. Fitting since the last bit of information his kinsman had told him promised to make this assignment just a bit more complicated. "According to the medics that will be at least a week. So unless Rin pulls of a small miracle and heals so fast that the medics clear him for more than getting up to go to the bathroom in the next forty-eight hours, it will be just us for this assignment." Explanation given, the white-haired jounin let his head fall forward until it was resting against the table as he silently cursed the day he had let himself be talked into taking a genin team. Or maybe not so silently since at least once he let slip something that may or may not have been intended for the privacy of his own head.

"I swear the brats do this on purpose just to get back at me."

Posts : 1187

Rin managed to make his way to a secluded area away from most people. This place had a railing some low walls and a drop. It was as if a skate park had been built accidentally. The boy did not really understand why he had the sudden urge to try this again, to be honest he hoped that it would not be disappointing and he would only do it for a day or two. He started off by skating around in a circle just getting a proper feel for the board and get used to skating again. It would take him a while before he tried to do anything fancy. If the boy managed to injure himself he was sure it would not do it to badly. After all he really did not want to have to miss out more than a day of the mission. But he was sure that nothing of the sort would happen, unless of course he got slightly over confident. The time was now around three, he would do this for an hour then go to Toshiro and Kimiko to see what they had done with their days. Rin doubted that it would be anything as fun as he was doing. He kept on forgetting that the pair were not actually too much older than him. It kind of worried him, the fact that they had managed to reach the rank of Jounin at such a young age. The boy felt as if he could never really surpass his sensei unless he managed to match his rank before he did. This was a tricky challenge but it would be cool to see if it would come true none the less.

Since arriving in the capital of the fire country the boy had rented out two books from the famous 'library'. They were both subjects that intrigued him. The first had been picked out as the boy was contemplating the thought of trying to get a summons. It was a list of known generic summons and what was known about them. From reading the book Rin had settled on two possibilities. His first would have been a bird of some sorts that was able to use genjutsu. Or something such as a frog that was able to use weaponry. Both of these were very cool ideas in his mind. The other was a collection of the data known about the nine tailed beasts. Unfortunately this was a very small book as very little was known. There were almost no drawings of them or what kind of jutsus they used. But from what very little information given the teenage boy had decided that if he were to host one. It would be the seven or five tails, mainly because they both sounded really cool. The idea of having all four elements would be amazing and chakra flight sounded even better. He had been skating in a circle now for about ten minutes so he decided to take it to the next stage. He tried to olly statically which meant that he would be able to practise it while moving at a later time.

Another thing that was nice being out here was that he was alone with his thoughts. For instance the thought that had occupied his mind for the most part of his week was 'why would you want to be the Hokage?' Of course it would be great as you would be recognised as the greatest ninja in the village, but it would be so much work. You would have to go to almost every event imaginable, you would have to give speeches occasionally, you would have to tell everyone what to do, it really did not sound like that much fun. Also some time soon hopefully he would like to go to the Grass Country. It was supposed to be beautiful and full of life. It would be great if he could go there sometime, maybe as a Chuunin to do some training. The boy was still trying to practise the basics before getting into things too complicated, Rin would try and practise the basics until he could do them effortlessly. But to get to that standard it would take him quite some time. When the boy got home he would probably just do something like sleep. The festivities still would not take place for a few more days and he had no idea what to do for the remainder of that time.

As he continued with the practise the boy started to try and do some moving ollies. At the start he could barely get any height on his jumps and he even fell of once or twice. What would really help him now was music, unfortunately he had none. A breeze had been whipped and it blew lightly around the square. Rin wondered why there was no one else here, it seemed like a nice enough place. Most likely people just did not know about it. The boy suddenly had an idea pop into his head. "Who is the strongest Genin in Konoha?" He said allowed. It was an incredibly random thought but would be interesting to find out. Rin was sure he knew barely any of them so he could not compare him self to any of them. He liked to think that he would be in the top twenty five percent but chances were he was not. Maybe he could ask Amy to ask the Hokage if he would put on a competition to find out who the strongest was. But he was sure that would never happen and even if it did he would probably be disappointed about where he came. As far as Genin teams went he doubted he was even in one of the strongest of them. After all there were only two members in his team and their skills were limited at that. To be honest he would not be surprised if 'boney' - Toshiro called him - was stronger than him. Rin looked at his watch and decided that he would go to the trio's meeting point. This was the last thing he remembered.

***

Rin awoke at nine in the evening the same day. At first he was wondering what he was doing in the soft white bed and came to one conclusion. He was in hospital, it was quite a nice place as the bed was large. He propped himself up and instantly sat back down. He felt dizzy so decided to do a quick check of what might be wrong with him. Nothing appeared to be broken, he could move everything. Chances were he had simply passed out, on further inspection he found bruises on his body and some small cuts. Kuro was at the foot of his bed sleeping peacefully.However the only thing that really hurt was his forehead. After rubbing his eyes the boy glanced around the room. The paint work was blue and large windows to the left of him let him look onto the capital. It seemed like he was in the centre of town. Looking to his left the purple haired experienced Genin saw his clothes folded up neatly on a chair, and his board was propped against a wall. Leaning to the chair he picked up his clothes. None of them had any holes in them which must of meant that what had happened to him was not that serious. But it still did not give him any clues about what had happened. He was dressed in white hospital clothes which were several sizes to big. A glass of water was on the bedside table to his next so reached over and put the glass in his lap for whenever he needed it.

Five minutes later a slender nurse bustled in. "Ah, you're awake good." She started. "How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm ok I guess," Rin said."Could you please tell me what I'm doing here and what exactly is wrong with me?"
"Of course, we assumed that you would not remember much. I must admit that you woke up a lot quicker than we expected. It appears that as you were going to where ever it was you were going you collided with something and got concussion. Luckily someone brought you here." She indicated to Kuro. "This little one stayed with you the whole time. If you have come around now you should be able to go soon, but it would be better if we kept you in for just a little while longer. I'm sure you can go in the morning. Is there anything I can get you?" After thinking for a second Rin decided. "Well there is one thing. If you got me a pen and paper and I gave you an address you you be able to get a message to my brother?" The woman nodded and left the room, only to return a few minutes later. Rin began his letter. 'Dear Himeri and Tsuken, if you have not yet heard about my accident, I managed to collide with something at around three thirty and got concussion. The nurse has said that I will be able to come back to the inn in the morning. Sorry that I always manage to get injured whenever I am with you, look forward to see you when I get back, Saneko.'

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimi for the Gala:

Happily enjoying her tea, Kimiko was none the wiser to the sudden wall of bodies between them and the rest of the café, and thus when she placed her cup down she only just seemed to notice it when Toshiro leant forward in order to tell her where Rin had gotten to. Her significant other had sent his student out to find some nice clothes for the gala, and to wind down before the event that was to be commencing in three days time, which he confirmed in his next bout of speech. He mentioned that his kinsmen would be providing as many delays as humanly possible in order to allow them almost immediate entry into the gala, something that pleased the formerly ebony-haired Jounin to no end. Knowing that they would be some of the first inside the gala was reassuring; that way, they wouldn’t have to deal with all the gate-crashers and the like further back in the queue. If they were allowed entry quickly as well, it would confirm the fact that they were meant to be there. It could appear shiftier if they were right at the back of the line of nobles as opposed to the front. A pack of papers was then taken from her boyfriend’s jacket and handed to her for her to look over, because apparently this man whose details were given in the file, was the one to be watching in the evening. She immediately cast her eyes over it, looking at the photograph and reading the information provided quickly. Being such an avid reader, such a skill came naturally to her by now. She had almost finished reading the entirety of the information when she heard a voice beside their table addressing Toshiro in a whispered tone. She raised her head and looked at the man curiously, wondering what an uncle Kijiko could want at such a time, and how he knew their whereabouts. But she knew something was wrong as soon as she glanced at her beloved’s face across the table; noticing the sudden change in facial expression he had. Knowing him so well meant that she could identify how he was feeling just through little quirks and changes. The way his eyes had narrowed and concern touched them made the Katsumi female tense up. That was a danger look, a prime way of knowing when something was wrong or amiss.

Toshiro excused himself from the table with a reassuring squeeze of Kimiko’s shoulder, and left the café to stand in the lobby and wait to hear what had happened with his uncle Kijiko. The more that the young woman thought about it, the more she realised that she had never heard of an uncle Kijiko in the Hinamori family, and because of extensive family history lessons she had been subjected to, she was fairly certain that if this ‘uncle’ was of such importance to show concern for, her better half would have told her about him. She waited apprehensively, returning her gaze solidly to her tea as if having a one-sided staring competition with the murky green depths before lifting the cup to her lips for a small sip. The last couple of people in the café left at some point, because when the ebony-haired girl heard shouting she instinctively checked the room to make sure nobody else could hear. The shouting voice proved to be Toshiro’s, and the more he spoke/ shouted, the more Kimiko knew something was dreadfully amiss. She had started to worry excessively when she heard ‘why he’s not there’, and her mind immediately jumped to something to do with Rin. Maybe it was a woman’s intuition, no doubt what Momo would have called it, but something about the way it was said and in the limited context she knew of, it sounded like something had happened to their Genin mission partner that left him unable to attend the gala. On the heels of a very real threat, Toshiro stormed back into the main room, angry beyond words at this point, and sat back down in his chair with such force that the groan that ensued might have been a cry for help before collapsing. Having done so, he reached for his mug and drained most of its contents before finally finding himself able to speak and express his anger, and whom it was directed at.

What he said next confirmed Kimiko’s thoughts that something had happened to Rin, because her boyfriend asked her why he had even considered taking on a Genin team when his students spent more time in the hospital for silly accidents than through combat wounds. He then launched into an explanation of exactly what happened, through which his significant other’s numerous facial expressions seemed to give life to the story. Rin had managed to get caught up in the wrong part of town and been mown down by an ox-cart, giving him a few broken ribs and a concussion by the sounds of things. If it wasn’t for Kuro, the boy would still probably be lying there in the middle of the street. ‘That cat really is a life saver.’ She thought to herself, watching Toshiro rub his temples as if he had the worst headache ever at this moment in time. And she didn’t blame him after all that had happened to his student. The main catch to Rin being injured, was the time of recovery that the medics had given; a week tops. That meant that, more than likely, the boy would be too injured and not really able to do much until that point. More to the point… he wouldn’t be able to attend the gala in three days time. She understood now why Toshiro was so riled up over the whole incident, and she could see that it was rather frustrating. After all their efforts of getting identities to safeguard themselves and Rin so that he wouldn’t be associated with notorious Konoha Jounin, the Genin was too beaten up to attend anyway. But, accidents happened, and in all honesty Kimiko was surprised that it wasn’t her on the receiving end of that ox-cart. Now she had a legitimate excuse for blonde moments, however, so she could be excused should she make any silly mistakes. She watched as her boyfriend placed his head on the table and continued to curse, muttering that his students did this kind of thing to get back at him. In spite of everything that happened, hearing such a thing made the Katsumi laugh. She smiled sympathetically and reached her hand forward to gently bring her boyfriend’s face up from the table to look at her in the eye, and remained leant over the table with one hand under his chin just in case he tried to bury himself in his despair once again. “Now, you shouldn’t be letting this make you re-consider having a Genin team. In case you didn’t notice, Rin idolises you. He can be… clumsy, and what happened was a mistake. He’s not using such things to get back at you for anything; trust me on this one. And you’ll have to get past me before you even consider dropping your team.” Confident that by removing her hand from under Toshiro’s chin would result in him face-planting the table again, she instead entwined her fingers with his.

“I have faith that Rin will be okay, and if for some reason he doesn’t recover in time for the gala, your kinsmen will provide a worthy explanation of why he could not be with us on the evening. So let’s not worry, hm? If you worry too much, you’ll get early wrinkles.” She grinned upon saying that and playfully poked a finger on her boyfriend’s forehead. “Let’s just focus on our assignment… after I’ve taken you to the hot springs to unwind for a while. You look like you could strange something, or somebody for that matter.” Her chocolate eyes spelling out merriment, she rose to her feet and left the dregs of her green tea in the cup, not worried about drinking the rest. And without waiting for answer from Toshiro, she tugged at his hand as an indication to follow her. He didn’t really have a choice in the matter…

~~~ 3 Days Later… ~~~

‘Gah…’ Kimiko frowned at herself in the full-length mirror while looking at her kimono and new look. Her now-blonde locks were curled loosely and fell past her shoulders, with the blondeness not quite as bright as it had been when it was first bleached. It was instead a more honey blonde now, which she much preferred to the bleach variety she had sported three days earlier. Her eyes were emerald green thanks to the wonders of contacts, but she had never worn them before so they felt odd and almost itchy in her eyes. She had to be constantly reminded not to itch her eyes because that would make it worse, and then her eyes could be damaged. Her kimono, more to the point, was made of some of the finest silk she had ever seen, with such vivid, wonderful colours. At the top, it was almost sea green with patterns of red camellia flowers covering most of the bodice, with stunning gold thread. The neckline was a modest V-cut that made it reveal her porcelain pale shoulders, trimmed in red and cerulean. Further down the kimono, the colour changed to a powdered blue in the middle, still with the red camellia flower detailing, and at the bottom it faded into a much more striking midnight blue hue. At present she was barefoot, but the gold velvet slipper-type shoes were set out beside her. ‘I don’t know…’ She thought, turning this way and that to examine her appearance at different angles to try and see if she preferred them. It was strange, but she couldn’t quite feel comfortable as herself when she was pretending to be somebody else, and as such she didn’t feel confident wearing this clothing teamed with this new look of hers. She started to braid the bangs that framed the side of her face, tying them in place with gold hair ties. She had two fresh camellia flowers to place in her hair to complete the whole look, and while she did so she glanced in the mirror in order to look behind her at around the area she expected Toshiro to be getting ready.

“What do you think?” She asked warily after daintily pinning the camellia flowers in place at both sides of her golden locks. She was yet to tie a midnight blue sash around her waist, trimmed with black and white. But even now she was feeling uncomfortable, so she really wasn’t sure about going to this gala that she had almost been looking forward to. As it happened, Rin was discharged from hospital the morning after they had heard the news of his accident, and told to rest. His wounds had healed quicker than originally thought, and he had awoken much faster than original expectations too. So he would be attending the gala with his big brother and sister-in-law tonight, as planned. His face was still a bit bruised and battered, but Kimiko had offered to use her make-up skills in order to blend some foundation over the bruising to hide it. She was well-versed in this art, since she used to do so quite a lot in the past. For her own make-up, she had kept the overall look simple; using a good quality foundation to enhance her complexion, a pinky rouge blush, golden eye shadow that was otherwise un-noticeable until her face was tilted towards the light, a couple of coats of black mascara, and stunning red lipstick. She was literally ready, and it was almost 3pm. That in itself was a record achievement for her. She wasn’t sure whether Rin would take her up in her offer of using make-up on his face in order to hide the bruising, so she was still waiting to hear about that. But she might as well take this opportunity to ask her significant other if she looked presentable, no?

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

Well into a silent litany that would have made the foulest-mouthed salt-water sailor ashamed, Toshiro had just finished a particularly vile one involving an incestuous relationship between goats and whichever deity was the cause of all this when his attention was abruptly redirected. Having taken a page right out of his own playbook, Kimiko made sure he couldn't not look at her before telling him that he was letting things get to him. As much as he had wanted to say she hadn't been around either of his genin for their less... stellar moments and thus had no idea how much both embodied Murphy's Law and it's corollary (e.g. if anything can go wrong it will when the results are most frustrating), he couldn't. Why? A bit because at some level he hoped she was right, but mostly because by the time his stress-rattled brain was able to come with a reply (which was along he lines of "don't be sure of that"), Kimiko had already hauled him out of the chair and almost out the door.

A protest might have been lodged against such forceful action if not for two items. First he was used to Kimiko's tendency to not give others a chance to say no when it came to her plans to brighten their mood. First-hand experience had shown that in the end you would do what she had in mind so it was better to just accept the inevitable with as much dignity as you could muster - or at least that she gave you time to muster. The second reason was the images that Kimko's plan brought to mind. Images that made the kunochi's boyfriend turn a rather embarrassed shade of pink in his face and diverted his focus so that it wasn't until the pair were out the door that he realized he hadn't said two words in the affirmative. If he hadn't been in public and the gala only a few days away, necessitating staying "in character" in public lest the wrong sort of rumors start to circulate, Toshiro might have put up more resistance. Not that it would have changed the outcome, but he did have a reputation to maintain.

------------- [3 Days later] -------------------
There was no doubt that had the Mist-nin who had coined the nickname "Devil Shark of Konoha" seen the recipient of said moniker right then he would have had second thoughts about the whole idea. After all, Toshiro hardly matched the description while standing in front of a mirror wearing his charcoal grey suit with leather shoes and silently cursing the inventor of the garment known as a "neck tie" as he tried to get the annoyingly simple yet elusive knot down. Then again it was unlikely that any of the "Seven Swordsmen of Mist" would be handed a low-profile assignment like this so they wouldn't have to do battle with the infernal article of clothing. The battle had almost been resolved in the jounin's favor when an uncertain "what do you think?" from behind, causing a reflexive turn of the head in the direction where Kimiko was. In doing so Toshiro missed the last critical part of the knot with the result that the whole thing came undone yet again. 'Gah! When this is done I'm burning this infernal thing.' Shooting a final glare at the contraption whose sole reason for existing was to frustrate and mock males on formal occasions, "Yazuma Tsuken" decided to give up (for now) the battle as a lost cause. Besides, his better half was asking his opinion and it was on the sort of issue a male either answered or regretted. "Kimi... er Himeri-chan, that is a loaded question." Pausing to run one appreciative blue eye (already wearing the slightly uncomfortable color-altering contact lenses) over his partner, Toshiro almost regretted that she had come along. Call it male territoriality, but he really wasn't happy with the idea of his Kimiko looking so good in a room full of self-important and outright rutting males. At least among shinobi there was an unwritten rule that said hands off your fellow's girl unless you wanted to spend every mission wondering when the next kunai from your squad was aimed at your back. Among the "titled nobility" there was no rule beyond "don't get caught too early" and that lack of respect for boundaries had the clan jounin mentally drawing up a list of various "accidents" that could (and would) befall a partygoer whose hand strayed too far.

Of course that wasn't exactly answering Kimiko's question, and there was only so long one could think things over before an accusation of stalling would ring true. Cutting it close to that time limit no male wants to exceed, Toshiro went for something close to the truth since Kimiko could read him so well that lying was a waste of effort. "Would you believe me if I said I'm worried you are going to put the poor bride-to-be to shame?" Piece said, the elder male of the trio went back to his lopsided confrontation between almost twenty years of training and an infernal contraption. 'Cross this end over the other... now under.. almost... ARGH!' Round two to the infernal necktie and once more Toshiro found himself looking for something else to focus on before he introduced the embodiment of irritation to the business end of a water dragon. That something being the conspicuous absence of the last member of their group. "Maybe we should ask "Saneko" when he finally graces us with his presence." Of course there was a likely reason why "Saneko" wasn't already in the same room as the two jounin - namely his jounin-sensei's infamously explosive temper. A temper that had resulted in Rin getting a long and rather descriptive lecture about staying aware of his surroundings and a promise-slash-threat to put him through more evasion & awareness training as soon as they got back to Konoha when the trio were back in their rooms. Of course Toshiro's idea of such training was to spend several days launching constant surprise attacks with absolutely no regard to the privacy or dignity of his pupils. No doubt Rin would be, quite understandably, just a bit leery of being around his "loving sensei" out of fear that his presence might inspire further ideas for exercises in torture... err training.

Of course it was early, but Toshiro would far rather be unfashionably early than late as he had had already arranged suitable transport (a carriage drawn by a matched team). Not only would it reinforce the Leaf-nin's "wealthy and self-important noble" disguises, but the driver was yet another kinsman and would thus be able to navigate the havoc the native Hinamori were already sowing among the scheduled guests. It was just a bit humbling perhaps to see how readily a few wagons overturned in the middle of major roads (courtesy water jutsu from the sewers) and some brawls (staged of course) that got out of hand could snarl the traffic so badly. Without a driver who knew the local streets perfectly it would take an hour or more to travel what would normally be fifteen minutes at a brisk but not hurried pace. Which was just as well since Toshiro had already seen to his more practical preparations for the mission. While Kimiko had gone all-out (at least as much as decorum allowed) for the gala, her boyfriend had stuck to his plan of "keep it simple so less can go wrong". Out of its seal-reinforced bag, the charcoal grey suit he had brought along had needed only the application of an iron to be presentable (with the exception of the infernal accessory). A good thing because the majority of his attention had been spent on the various sheathes and holsters underneath that held a respectable allotment of basic weapons without being obvious about it. Risky? Yes but while there was always the chance the trio's prey would be smart and go quietly the jounin was expecting to have to at least threaten someone and maybe cut off a limb or two before they accepted their lot in life.

Shelving such business-orientated thoughts for when they became necessary, Toshiro went back to making yet another attempt to secure the mandatory necktie before pausing as a rather important thought came to the forefront. "You have the invitations right?" While he had no doubt his kinsmen would let them in, there was no telling if some servant or one of the samurai guards would get nosy. The official invitations, sealed with the Fire Lord's seal, would go a long way to encouraging such people to find other interests.

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimiko waited patiently for an answer from Toshiro, knowing that it would not come instantly through experience. Plus, his mind was currently occupied on the neck tie he was attempting to attach. Every so often she heard an irritated grunt or such, and while her significant other was busy, she decided to occupy herself too. She picked up the neatly pressed sash to go with her kimono and deftly tied it around her waist, making sure that it flattered her figure and accented the outfit by its positioning. Being a female was not an easy job; especially when walking in somebody else’s shoes that didn’t quite fit right, making for an uncomfortable walk indeed. She turned side-ways to face her chosen full length mirror and adjusted the size of each loop that the bow at her back sported, and when she was finally satisfied, directed her attention to the ground where the pair of golden slipper-type flats were laid out. She eased one foot into one slipper gently, and then the other. By the time she had straightened up, dusted herself down and taken a huge deep breath, Toshiro answered her earlier question. Well, by answer it was instead a rather elusive statement. He started off by calling her by her preferred nickname, and then corrected himself to use her false name for the evening. They had been calling each other as such for the past couple of days in order to get accustomed to the names, but it was still difficult. With a response that was so typical of her boyfriend basically saying that he was struggling to answer because of numerous unseen reasons, the Katsumi smiled slightly and rolled her eyes. She wasn’t quite like most females, and she was used to her boyfriend’s behaviour which was why she hadn’t bitten his head off and chewed him out for not being direct with her.

She crossed the room slowly and in a few fluid strides, taking an expectant seat on the edge of their shared bed, looking at him and raising an eyebrow slightly to make it obvious that she was still waiting for a follow-up answer to her question due to the inadequacy of his previous one. After a little while longer, some more irritated noises cursing the bow tie still being moved between Toshiro’s fingers to try and tie it together, he finally posed a question himself. He asked if she would believe him if he told her that she would put the bride-to-be to shame, and that raised a slight blush on Kimiko’s cheeks. She should be used to such glowing compliments by now, but she hadn’t been expecting it while she was in her ‘secret identity’ stage, especially since she despised herself with blonde hair and wished for her ebony locks to show themselves once more. She shook her surprise and embarrassment off with a slight laugh, getting back to her feet and moving to where Toshiro was struggling so much with his neck tie. When she reached his side, he asked her if she had the invitations, but she ignored that for now. She pushed him back a couple of pace and stood in front of him, taking the neck tie from him and focusing her attention on it. She had never worn one in her life before, but her father had taught her how to tie one because of how characteristically difficult they were to put on. She tilted her head slightly to the side while she concentrated, her slender fingers moving carefully and with speed, enough of the latter to have the accessory tied in a matter of seconds. She paused and smiled, adjusting the tie by tweaking the sides until she was satisfied. “Now was that really so hard to do, Tsuken dear?” She said slyly, a small grin finding its way to her face. She was better at remembering her boyfriend’s fake name than he was at remembering hers, and liked to flaunt that fact to him as often as possible, just like any good girlfriend would. She realised that this joking and grinning and being all merry was not what a rich person would do, but she didn’t want to have to be so boring before the mission actually started. She would have to frown continuously and look down her nose at people for much longer than she’d like, so she might as well get some time in being herself before she lost the will to live pretending to be Himeri.

She fussed partially over his suit, dusting the shoulders down and straightening up his pants a little, mainly for something to do and because Toshiro’s clothing placement did need a bit of adjusting. She finished with a little smile and gave her boyfriend’s strange brown hair a playful ruffle, running a hand back through her own odd blonde locks afterwards. “And I thank you for your kindness about the way I look, sweetie. I just can’t get comfortable not being myself, I suppose. But I’ll take your word for it.” She nodded. In this sense, she wasn’t like a female whatsoever. Many fought and said that they looked god-awful and all the rest of it, but Kimiko trusted her boyfriend’s judgement better than her own in situations like this. She knew that she didn’t like the way she looked at present because of her alien appearance, and as soon as the blonde dye was washed out of her hair, with the contact lenses removed she would feel ten times more comfortable just from that. She moved back to her bag for the evening; a small clutch thing, barely big enough to be practical in any form. It was made of pale blue silk embellished with numerous jewels of varying sizes, making it look tacky but it was something that someone with too much money would buy, after all. She popped open the clutch bag and pulled out three pieces of golden card, flashing them at Toshiro to make it known that she had the invitations about her person. They too were ridiculously over-the-top; printed in real gold leaf and embellished with so many seals of different families that would be attending it looked like some kind of impressionist’s worst nightmare. It was a huge status symbol to show what families would be attending the gala on the invitation, albeit unbelievably un-necessary and strange. She didn’t understand the rich at the best of times, and this was one of the reasons why. They were all about status, and nothing else seemed to matter apart from how everybody else viewed them. Despite having so much money, they always appeared so sombre and depressed to make themselves seem ‘stylish and cool’, but she didn’t understand how that worked either.

“I’ll take it that Saneko dearest doesn’t wish to bear witness to my fine make-up skills on his own face.” She giggled, guessing as much because the boy had yet to appear. She crossed the room to the part of the wardrobe that was being used for her things, and opened up the sliding door to scour her numerous items and clothing. “Ah!” She muttered to herself upon finding what she was looking for; four black bands to be attached to the body in order to make for discrete weapon hide-away operations. She lifted her kimono’s hem all the way up to her upper thighs and strapped one on each leg, attaching a kunai to each. Then she pulled up the long dipped sleeves on her kimono to attach a kunai to each upper arm. They were perfectly hidden in amongst the silken drapes of her loose garment, and after she had taken care of all such things, she felt prepared. Having steel about her person made her feel much more relaxed as of late; especially when heading into unknown territory where everybody could be the enemy for all she knew.

She added the final touches to her disguise by spraying the finest perfume on her neck, wrists and in her hair, and pinned the forged Yazuma crest to her kimono. It was made in real gold, a nice touch that her beloved’s kinsmen had arranged for the trio of Konoha nin in order to make their disguises all the more believable. The rich and wealthy liked to flaunt their family/ clan symbols to assert their authority and money via a visual representation, so it would be appropriate for them to do the same while they were pretending to be members of the Yazuma family. The crest itself was an intricate camellia flower surrounded by a spiral, hence why Kimiko had decided to make such an emphasis on camellias in her outfit for the gala. According to the Yazuma family, the women were expected to wear such flowery attire in order to enhance their femininity, and since most women married into the family, it was to show their new identity as a Yazuma; something considered to be an honour by the made-up family. She turned and looked back over her shoulder, smiling at Toshiro and gesturing with her hand for him to come to her. “We should probably leave soon.” She said after glancing at the clock above their bed, seeing that it was almost ten past three. Although it would only take the good parts of fifteen minutes to get there, they needed to allow extra time for the delays that were made as such to give them a better chance of being the first to get there, and to arrive early enough for that to happen. To emphasise that they should be leaving, she stooped down and picked up her clutch bag from where it was laid on the bed, reaching for it with her left hand. As she grabbed hold of the tacky thing that rich people found tasteful, she was reminded once more of marriage as she saw the large wedding ring glittering on her finger. Although the diamond was oversized and it was unbelievably expensive, she wished that it was real; that she was indeed actually wedded to, or in the process of wedding Toshiro. Her cheeks heated up at the thought, and her eyes glazed over with images of what could be the wedding day, the proposal, all of that kind of soppy romantic stuff that she thought about even more since pretending to be somebody else. She cleared her throat slightly and shook the blush from her cheek, wanting to keep a clear head for the mission that awaited them.

Right on cue, a knock was heard at their bedroom door. Kimiko called “Come in!”, and as the door opened the hotel owner’s wife was stood in the doorway. She bowed humbly and as she rose again, she looked at the couple respectively before speaking. “Your carriage is here, milord, milady.” Even she had taken up the act that was continuing even ‘out of character’. The Katsumi smiled and nodded, giving her thanks. The kindly woman took her leave after that, and the formerly ebony haired female wasn’t far behind her. She clasped her clutch bag in one hand and left the other free for Toshiro to take whether he felt it necessary to do. She made sure to push all her earlier thoughts of marriage and the possibilities of marriage from her mind because what awaited them was important business. A single slip in her concentration or charade could bring about the death of not only her, but Toshiro and Rin as well. She paused at the open bedroom door, turning back and looking at her beloved with a small smile. Although he looked so very different, he still retained his original look at least to her, and he still looked handsome enough for her knees to feel a little weak and a small blush work its way up her neck threatening to take over her face. ‘Get a hold of yourself, Kimi!’ She told herself firmly inside the recesses of her mind, knowing that the more she thought about things that could distract her the more she would find herself getting distracted when it counted. As wonderful as the prospect of marriage was, should Toshiro wish to take that step now if at all, she would have to leave it for another time.

Posts : 1187

Rin had ordered a pot of sencha while still bed ridden. It had been a few hours since a letter had been sent to Toshiro and the clock next to his bed read half past ten. He did not particularly feel like going to sleep and even if he did it was unlikely that he would be able to. While waiting for the cup he began to throw a coin up into the air. That would be a good thing to do when the nurse came back, ask for a ball. But most likely that would be impossible, people in places like this were always touchy about stuff like that. They would probably assume that he would break something. So far this mission had been really fun, however there was one slightly major problem, the mission had not even started. What he had found fun was messing around in the capital. Maybe when he grew up he would get the opportunity to come back for even longer. Then he would be able to do stuff that he was not able to do at his current age. Looking at the clock on his bed side table Rin calculated what time he was going to be able to leave. It was eleven now and he could most likely leave at ten in the morning. All he had to do was wait until then.

It took a further fifteen minutes for his tea to arrive and by this time his throat was bone dry. He gulped down the bitter sweet, green liquid and let it warm up his body. Pulses of pain still came and went through out his body, they would occur around every ten minutes and they would most commonly affect his head. Rin knew for a fact that if we were to sleep his recovery rate would greatly increase. But it would be nearly impossible for the boy to fall asleep under these circumstances. If the night did become truly unbearable he could ask for some sleeping pills or something like that. After finishing his tea the boy bent over to his clothes pile and picked up his T-shirt. He was still wearing the stupid fabric hospital clothes and had realised that he did not really need them so he might as well hand them back, well the shirt back at least. After wandering up to the counter at the end of the hallway the boy left the patterned shirt in an obvious place so that someone would spot it. After drinking all that tea Rin realised that it would probably be a good idea to go to the toilet. Toilets in hospitals always were disgusting, with urine stains and the overwhelming smell of disinfectant, this one was no different. The smell on its own almost made the Konoha shinobi gag. He hurried out of their as quickly as he could and returned to the room with his bed in. But the figure of a girl had already beaten him to it. As he approached the place where he was supposed to be sleeping he cleared his throat.

"Um hello, you realise that's my bed right?" Rin said, there was no reply. As he got closer he looked at the girl, she must have been about half his age with short cut blonde hair and pale skin. She seemed to be almost completely oblivious to his presence. He passed her and got into his bed even though she was still at the foot of it. It soon became clear that she was playing with Kuro and he seemed quite content with her. For a second shee paused and pulled out a note book and wrote in it. You have a lovely cat. Rin was confused he asked her why she was writing and she replied that she was deaf and dum. He wrote down thank you and more importantly why it was she was at the foot of his bed. As it turned out she was looking for someone to play with, she was nine and her name was Akiko. She had been in the hospital for around four months now as they were trying to help her recover her hearing which sh had lost at the age of six. She seemed to be completely obsessed with Kuro and they sat in silence for around ten minutes. When the teenaged boy finally thought of something to say he took her book and wrote in it. Is there a game you want to play? In his scrawly hand writing. As soon as she read this Akiko shot up off the box she was sitting on and put it out in front of RIn. He had not noticed it before but now she was unfolding it and setting up the pieces for a game of shogi. The boy had never played much shogi before and he was probably not going to be very good, he was not even sure if he felt like playing it at eleven o'clock at night but it would be better than hurting a young girls feelings, And who knew, it might end up being very fun. Even though the Genin was not entirely sure of the rules he went along with it. Within the first five minutes he had already lost. This did not stop him from coming back and by the time Akiko left to go to sleep, the record was nineteen to her seven to Rin.

***

Rin had been instructed not to go out over the past few days, honestly he was not surprised. Given his current record Toshiro was probably worried that he would get injured before the mission and to be honest that was probably true. He had taken to running in order to keep fit and to stop him from going insane. There was a small patch of land outside of the hostel in which they were staying in and he would simply do laps of that. Also hitting trees turned out to be a great way of relieving stress. Two reasons meant that he did this, firstly he was worried about the mission and also he felt as if he had disappointed his sensei and Kimiko. And for this he was truly sorry, the only way he could make it up to the two of them was to perform incredibly well on the mission. He was currently sitting under a sakura tree watching the clouds roll past and the blossom cascading down. There was four hours until the ceremony and he still had lots to do. Rin knew that Kimiko had a long routine of getting ready which would possibly take her longer than she actually had. Her routine involved getting dressed, a full makeup routine and god knows what else. Normally a man's routine was far less glamorous. For instance he would be simply washing, brushing his hair into the neatest way possible and getting dressed into his new suit. Even though the boy would have never worn something as posh as the suit he had, he could not help but admit that he looked pretty good.

The boy sat up and rested his back against the twisted wooden trunk of the pink blossomed tree. In order to clear his head before he got ready he had decided to do some meditation. The peaceful little garden was the perfect place, it had neat little pond with low hedges and trimmed grass. Closing his eyes the boy sat in the half lotus position. It was when he was like this he felt truly at peace. With no distractions, a perfect setting and no one near him. After fifteen minutes he finally opened his eyes, it took him a minute or two to get back up as his muscles had gone all numb. It was still light so Rin stayed outside for another five minutes basking in the sunlight. He was wearing his running stuff which were designed to let in as much air as possible, so since he was not doing any exercise his body was rapidly getting colder and colder. He lasted a further three minutes before going inside and running up the creaky, old wooden stairs. After dropping into Toshiro and Kimiko's room to say hello the boy carried on into his own room and flicked off his shoes. Kuro was on his bed and Rin took a minute to stroke the cat. He was not allowed to take him to the festivities so he had left out enough food and milk for however long they would be. Also when they were at the party it would be almost impossible to smuggle in large weapons so he would be forced to use his smaller weapons, he would have to rely on his ninjutsu, Ulaks and his satisfactory taijutsu. But hopefully it would not be him to do most of the work. It would be pretty cool if a fight broke out and he could get involved in that. After taking off his shirt the purple haired boy walked into the on suit bathroom. It was not very big or fancy but this was not a problem at all. All he wanted now was a shower in order to get clean before the mission.

After a nice long soak under the warm water the boy stepped out of the sliding glass doors. After drying himself off the boy stepped up to the mirror, this was where the real challenge started. On a normal day he would have happily let his hair fall wherever it wanted but this was not a normal day. In the sixteen years that he had hair on top of his head it had probably never even once been considered to look neat. The best he could do would be to brush it so that it was not all over the place then use matting clay to style it in away that could possibly begin to appear neat. It would be easier to do this if his hair was almost completely dry so he continued to dry it. Chances were that this would kill him before the mission did. Rin knew that it was his nature to get really angry if his hair did not do what it needed to. Before getting his head read he decided to quickly put his iron on charge and throw on some pants. On his way back into the bathroom he read the clock, he had three hours left before they were due to leave. Picking up the black hair brush form the side of his sink Rin stood in front of the mirror. Pushing his hair to the right so it was all available he picked up the gel. The neatest thing that it was possible for him to do was keep it from all branching out and keeping it slightly under control. So instead of having multiple spikes and numerous tufts of hair it would all be swept up and to the right. He sealed this by using his gel to hold it in place. Hey then gave his underarms a quick spray of deodorant and squeezed a small ball of toothpaste onto his brush.

Picking up his shirt from the bed in which he had been sleeping through out the time on the mission the shinobi walked over to the iron. After its time in the bag it had many different creases in it which would have been frowned upon by the daimyo of the fire country. It was a gamble, using the iron, mainly because he had never actually used one before. It could not be that hard after all you just had to run it over the article of clothing until it was straight. Once he had done his shirt Rin picked up his trousers and blazer in order to do the same. He learned that it also made them very warm which was an added bonus. After taking a good few moments to put them all on the boy walked over to a mirror. The last thing that he did was the tie, doing up the buttons on his suit the boy studied himself. He was not going to lie, he looked pretty cool. The suit had been kitted out with two places to conceal his daggers and he had already put these in their scabbards Doing a few joke poses Yazuma, Saneko turned towards the door. "Oh, almost forgot." For the purpose of making their characters more believable the trio had been given the crest of the clan of Saneko. The boy himself had been given cufflinks, a tie pin and a crest to go where ever it was he chose. The cufflinks were silver with an obsidian and jade centre, engraved in these were the 'Saneko crest'. After threading these through he picked up the tie pin, this was far less glamorous all it consisted of was a thin strip of gold with the initials YS. And finally he picked up the crest and attached it to his left arm. He left his room and walked down the hall to his brother and his wife. Taking a deep breath the boy knocked on the door.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

His struggle with the useless contraption he was expected to wear for this event abruptly taken out of his hands and Kimiko's, Toshiro found his unwanted source of distraction removed. Left with no recourse while his better half went about doing what had eluded the under-covering shinobi for the better part of fifteen minutes, Toshiro's mind drifted back to the immediate past. While neither he nor Kimiko were exactly inhibited (no doubt the legacy of their parents) around each other the last few days had been... unusual. In his twenty-one years Toshiro was no stranger to being around females - even if it required sharing a bed. Having all your siblings females who insisted on dragging their pre-Academy little brother along on all manner of things saw to that. Nor did exactly help ones ignorance when they were also completely uninhibited about some things to the point of shamelessness. The white haired ninja had thought such early exposure would have given him an ironclad self-control in this sort of situation. Oh had he been wrong. His estimate hadn't been off the mark, it hadn't even gone the right general direction. To say that the temptation to believe in the whole lie was strong would be putting things mildly. Just being around Kimiko and keeping up the front of a married couple had required constantly reminding himself to watch how far he took things. Then again this was the first time Toshiro had ever felt anything remotely serious for a female and if he was honest with himself it still scared him a little. There were nights he kept woke up thinking that the past seven years had been just a very detailed dream and those had been accompanied by a cold fear of it being just that that didn't fade until much later - or sooner if Kimiko was around.

Attention brought back to the present by his girlfriend's finishing making quick work of the infernal contraption around his neck and poking fun at his ineptitude - both with the necktie and having to constantly remind himself to use her assumed name. Now he could let it stand as-is but dignity insisted on at least a partial retort. "Maybe if it had an actual purpose I would have practiced at some point." Sparing one final glare at the necktie (resolving to burn it when this whole charade was over), Toshiro turned his attention back to the final tweaks and responding to Kimiko's little jab. "And it's not my fault I have to the harder time remembering, "Himeri". Maybe if Kimi didn't look so good all the time I would remember to have eyes for someone else." That said the older (by not quite a year) jounin went back to making sure he had everything he would need. He especially made sure to not look at Kimiko as she went about securing her own concealed weapons - while he had seen more at various points it never helped his focus. A focus that showed the only thing missing from his own getup was the fake "Yazuma" crest, something quickly corrected by a basic stick pin with the gaudy emblem on it. If anything this drew as an expression of disgust even stronger than the tie. Sneaking about, eavesdropping on private conversations, meeting people in back allies, and other sorts of skullduggery he had no trouble with. This pretending to be someone else however rubbed Toshiro the wrong way. It was entirely possible he would have to kill someone tonight and he wanted them to at least know who their executioner was.

Preparations finished Toshiro looked up in time to see Kimiko show that all three of the over-done invitations were safely in her possession. "Prepared as always. What would I do without you?" He had been about to make a further (and non-verbal) comment on that but was cut off as the innkeeper came in to announce that the carriage had arrived with what was a good imitation of the manner a servant to a pretentious noble would use. A glance at his watch showing it was indeed time to get on with the point of this whole charade, Toshiro needed just a few steps to catch and grab her free hand in his. It might be slightly out of character but there was no way he wanted any onlookers to get the wrong idea. If they did and acted on them, well even a clan like his could only hide so many bodies. Sparing just a moment to shove his thoughts about how he would react if one his "peers" tried anything... untoward with his Kimiko, Toshiro shifted into what he hoped was a convincing expression while trying to keep the outside facade of "Yazuma Tsuken". Just because it was unlikely either party the trio were here to apprehend knew they had been found out it didn't mean they wouldn't be paranoid anyway and pick up any slip on his part.

Just as he was about to open the door to usher his girlfriend out Toshiro froze as someone knocked on the other side. Not a freeze out of fear of danger but the "your genin just got run over/ fell down the stairs/ some other freak accident and can't attend after all" freeze. Resigned to hearing such, Toshiro was mildly surprised to see the person he half-expected to be told about there in person and looking presentable. Given that to this point neither of his genin would have looked terribly out of place in the seedier parts of Konoha, the jounin couldn't keep back a slight snicker. Nor could he refrain from a slight jab at his student finally having "cleaned up" despite the still-visible marks of his loss against the ox cart. "Ah, it looks like my "brother" finally woke up. I guess we'll just have to make up some reason for his battered appearance. Maybe he can be the black sheep who is always visiting taverns and getting into fights?" That said Toshiro gestured for his girlfriend to go through the door before following behind and closing it. That done he quickly reclaimed Kimiko's hand and used his other to gesture for Rin to go ahead. As the three ninja went down the hall that would eventually lead them down to the inns main floor and into the yard where the hired carriage waited. In the process he made sure at least once bring up how his future sanity was owed to the woman in their company. "You owe Kimi a lot Rin. She talked me out of the extra training", with the emphasis on the last making it clear that the training had been more like torture, "I had planned for you."

Once the trio were in the inn's flagstone yard Toshiro ushered his compatriots to the waiting black carriage with the silver trimmings. Given the choice he would have preferred walking but his objections had been rendered moot but two points from the innkeeper's husband. First being that such an in-your-face display of wealth was to be expected of the people the three Leaf-nin were pretending to be. The second was a more subtle but very handy. Namely that worked into all the fancy scroll work were seals that when activated by the driver created a subtle genjutsu that affected anyone looking in its direction. A genjutsu that not only encouraged those under its influence to focus on the vehicle itself rather than the passengers while making anything said passengers said unremarkable and easily forgotten. It was for those reasons Toshiro felt safe using just a low voice to convey the last bits of information he could. "Once we enter the gala the real mission starts. So far our spy hasn't bolted so he should be meeting his handler. Ideally we want this to be done quietly to keep the chance of collateral damage down. If they won't come quietly though it's okay to rough up our targets. Just leave them able to answer whatever questions the ghouls in Torture & Information want. If it comes down to a fight try to bag both of them but remember - the handler is top priority. If it comes down to one or the other get the handler and leave the spy to my cousins." With that the snow-haired jounin leaned back in what might have been a pose of a man who believed he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wished. "Beyond that try to not be too bored. And if you manage by some miracle to actually find something enjoyable here remember how because that is a secret I'll trade almost anything to learn just incase I have to do this again."

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Sometimes knowing another person so well that you could predict their reactions and words for certain things really was a nice bond to have. Knowing Toshiro as she did, Kimiko was fully expecting a retort about the necktie and the inability to remember a fake name, and wasn’t surprised to hear said retorts one after another. Her boyfriend first said that if a necktie had a reason, he would have practised tying them. This made her roll her eyes; Toshiro never had been big on formality and formal dress, so wearing a necktie was a rare occurrence at best for him. She smiled all the same, he never failed to amuse her even at the most inappropriate of times with his sarcasm and dry humour. He went on to say that he had difficulty remembering the fake name ‘Himeri’ because Kimi always managed to look so beautiful, and that meant he didn’t have eyes for anybody else. Her smile only widened upon hearing that, and a gratified blush touched her cheeks. “You do flatter this Kimi too much, dear.” She laughed and shook her head fondly, meeting his currently blue eyes with her own green ones at present. They would usually be a rich chocolate brown, dark and able to portray all of her emotions without her saying a word to express it. These green contacts managed to change her eyes completely, and her most expressive features once were now the most secretive. There was nothing behind that emerald gaze when there should be, but that would be helpful indeed for their mission. There was nothing to give away with her eyes. Should her eyes be freed of the irritating contact lenses Toshiro would be able to see the look she was giving him; one so full of adoration and love that it would give a poet reams and reams to write about.

A small grin touched her lips after she was shown to have the invitations to hand, and Toshiro asked what he would do without her. Characteristically, as the female in the relationship, she did always manage to be more organised and prepared than her partner of approaching six years, and she was used to that question as she heard it rather a lot. “I honestly don’t know. Looks like you’ll have to keep me around for a while longer, hm?” She replied cheekily, expecting a bit of a moment with her boyfriend before the innkeeper’s wife interrupted them to mention that the carriage was ready. Soon after that too when Toshiro had taken her hand and they were ready to depart, they heard a knock on the door to signify somebody else’s presence. The door was opened to reveal ‘Saneko’, or Rin, her better half’s student. The sight of the youth made his sensei snicker, a gesture that was met with a sharp elbow to the ribs by his ‘beloved’. Kimiko smiled at Rin, happy to see that he was indeed recovered enough to attend the gala with them. Her ‘husband’ continued to make a jape about Rin’s battered appearance, and said that the boy could be the black sheep of the family who always found himself getting into fights. This was met with a roll of the eyes from his partner, who leant closer to the youth’s face to inspect it better. “In the right light, it won’t even be seen.” She concluded, standing back upright again as not to make the boy too uncomfortable with her invading his personal space. “And if it is, we’ll explain that some common thug thought it was okay to attempt to mug you. That will rile some upper-classes about those less fortunate than them as opposed to giving us the attention.” She came up with a much more sensible solution than her boyfriend’s rather easily, and gave him a playful withering look to show that she hadn’t been best pleased by his joking suggestion at all.

Toshiro continued to say that his student owed a lot to the currently blonde under-cover kunoichi because it was she who had managed to steer the ‘training’ idea away. She was instead more tuned in to the fact that her partner had used her real name, and Rin’s. Using her clutch bag as a make-shift battering weapon, she swung it and hit his arm with it as a prompt reminder that he had made a mistake. “Your wife’s name is Himeri, and your brother’s name is Saneko!” She said firmly yet quietly, making it known that there would be consequences if he managed to forget those names one more time. That aside, she couldn’t restrain a giggle about the statement overall. “No wonder your students call you ‘bastard sensei’, my dear.” She said smugly in response to him originally coming up with some kind of torture he called ‘extra training’. She looked at Rin and rolled her eyes at him, showing her disdain for the teaching methods that her better half used. “You don’t owe me anything, especially since no normal sensei would put their students through that. It’s only yours that would.” With that cheeky statement said to Rin and Rin alone, but with the intention of having it overheard by Toshiro, they made their way down to the courtyard that the inn sported where their carriage was waiting to take them to the gala. They each climbed into the back of the carriage, being chauffeured to their destination, just like any rich person/ people, and when their journey was underway, Toshiro began to brief them on what he knew and what they could do.

The main point of the talk was that the handler was the top priority; the spy wasn’t as important. But everything so far was going ahead as planned because the spy was still actually attending, for one thing, which meant he would lead them straight to the handler. The golden rule was to keep everything quiet and on the down-low, the whole point of a stealth mission that Kimiko hated with a passion. She liked noise, to blow an opponent up while screaming jutsu names, and do everything over-the-top. This really wasn’t her style, but she’d give it a go all the same. Outside, untold chaos was already erupting on the streets thanks to Toshiro’s kin. Their carriage did of course manage to avoid everything, as if by some miracle. “Understood.” She nodded to confirm that she had taken in all the information about the dos and don’ts of this mission, and settled back into a currently alien position. She sat with a bolt upright back, and if anybody measured the angle it would be perfectly set at 180 degrees. One leg was crossed neatly over the other, and her hands were clasped tightly in her lap. She just knew that she would get a sore back sitting like this, and it wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but that was how she had seen rich women sit, and she would have to get into the habit in order to fit in with the crowd. The joke made about finding things to do without being bored that Toshiro made got a laugh from his girlfriend. “I’ve never been to anything like this before, so I’d imagine it would be fun.” She said in a somewhat cheery manner, and then remembered to drop this kind of behaviour as soon as they drew near the gala. Their carriage moved quickly, and they arrived at their destination earlier than anticipated. But the same couldn’t be said for quite a few guests stuck behind strategically placed road blocks and accidents. The Fire Lord’s palace really was… something. It towered above them, probably sporting anywhere from ten to fifteen floors, maybe even more. It was all gold and ornately built, surrounded by a staff of certified guards that were checking invitations as people dressed in absolute splendour milled inside the numerous entrances at a steady trickle.

The door to their carriage was opened and Kimiko was helped down the steps holding her kimono to avoid stepping on it, and as soon as she hit the ground she was Yazuma Himeri. She wore an expression of mild distaste, like all rich people seemed to do. It was like they had foul smelling things shoved up their noses all of the time, and she had managed to get that look down to a T in time for this event. She waited for her companions to be stood with her, and in a levelled, slightly deeper voice, she said “Our arrival must be eagerly awaited, let us make our presence known”. And they did. Men and women alike stared as the trio made their way to the main entrance to the palace, and the guards situated there couldn’t help but stare either. The husband-and-wife couple made a stunning pair, and their brother or brother-in-law respectively was noticed as being rather young for such an event. ‘Himeri’ had spotted a few younger people making their way into the palace too, but none any younger than ‘Saneko’. So much for being inconspicuous. The female of the trio presented their invitations, all sealed and signed by the Fire Lord himself, and they were waved through with no problems. ‘That was the first hurdle…’ She thought as they made their way inside the palace. ‘But now we have so many more to clear…’

Posts : 1187

Just as soon as he had knocked on the other two's door it swiftly flew open. The boy was met by the face of his sensei Toshiro, or for the purpose of the mission Tsuken. He had a somewhat stern expression on his face which slightly scared Rin. "So are we going to be leaving?" He said with a smile on his face. Then all of a sudden his sensei burst out laughing, at first the 'Saneko' could not work out why. But the most obvious answer would be he was taunting him about how mashed up his face was. The boy tried to avoid his gaze and looked down in slight guilt. "Ah, it looks like my "brother" finally woke up. I guess we'll just have to make up some reason for his battered appearance. Maybe he can be the black sheep who is always visiting taverns and getting into fights?"
His 'brother' laughed. "I realised that fights would be the best option to take when explaining my wounds. But I decided to go with something with the excuse, I got mugged and they beat me up. Or the more heroic option I got hit while stopping some thugs from attacking some old lady.

Kimiko stepped up to the teen in order to inspect his wounds. “In the right light, it won’t even be seen.” Rin thought about how kind she was, even though the two barely knew each other she still was nice to him. After straightening up she backed off again. “And if it is, we’ll explain that some common thug thought it was okay to attempt to mug you. That will rile some upper-classes about those less fortunate than them as opposed to giving us the attention." His mentor beckoned for him to leave the room and to go down to the lobby. The trio set off down the steps. Apparently they had to wait until their carriage was entirely ready. Toshiro had hardly stopped laughing since they had left the room which was making Rin increasingly ashamed. Walking over to one of the wooden seats the boy sat down. "You owe Kimi a lot Rin. She talked me out of the extra training, I had planned for you."
"To be honest with you I was going to suggest the same thing. I have not performed well on this mission and I agree it would be good. But if you have decided against it, thank you so much Kimiko." Rin managed to look at his Jonin sensei then smiled at his peer and girlfriend.

“You don’t owe me anything, especially since no normal sensei would put their students through that. It’s only yours that would." Kimiko stated. This comment was obviously directed at the younger of the two men, but it was said just loud enough so the other could hear. Rin laughed at that and paused. "Yes but that is what makes him such a great sensei. I am not sure if I have already asked you this, or if you have told me or not. But how long have you two known each other?" After this the three carried on to the carriage, they made their way down the stone steps and in to the courtyard. From here it was simply a few steps to the road in which their transport was waiting for them. And from there onwards to the gala. The carriage that was to take them was a lacquered black colour. It had a silver trim and ornate patterns covered it. Rin imagined if he was part of a real family that could afford this. It would be extremely strange if this was his only method of transport and he went everywhere in such an expensive looking vehicle. The inside of it was decorated in beige fabrics with cushions to sit on. Once they were all Toshiro started to talk about the mission. "Once we enter the gala the real mission starts. So far our spy hasn't bolted so he should be meeting his handler. Ideally we want this to be done quietly to keep the chance of collateral damage down. If they won't come quietly though it's okay to rough up our targets. Just leave them able to answer whatever questions the ghouls in Torture & Information want. If it comes down to a fight try to bag both of them but remember - the handler is top priority. If it comes down to one or the other get the handler and leave the spy to my cousins. Beyond that try to not be too bored. And if you manage by some miracle to actually find something enjoyable here remember how because that is a secret I'll trade almost anything to learn just incase I have to do this again."

"Ok, I understand." Rin said. It would take them around fifteen to twenty minutes to get to the castle. After putting his head against the oneway glass the boy stared at the views that the capital of the fire country had to offer. Currently Rin had the worst butterflies of his life. He felt like a little fish in a big pond as he thought about the rank of this mission compared to his own rank. Each of the three shinobi would be mixing in with some of the richest, most powerful and most important people in the whole world. He could only hope that the other two were feeling the same amount of nerves that he was currently feeling. But it was important to keep these under control, in front of both his higher ups and the other people at the gala. Weakness was one thing that the Genin did not want to show to Kimiko and Toshiro, and it was important not to show fear during the mission. As soon as the trio arrived at the castle Rin could not take his eyes off of it. The structure was possibly the most beautiful building he had ever seen. There was not a word in his own, nor any other language that could describe it. As they each stepped out in turn the youngest took up the poshest face he deemed possible. It did look truly snobbish, he made a note not to look at his own face in a mirror or else he would surely burst into fits of laughter. The boy walked behind his 'brother's wife' and followed her as they were let into the gala.

*Sorry for the relatively short post.

Age : 48 Posts : 1036

All through "Himeri's" little lecture about remembering the aliases she and "Saneko" were going by and his rather extreme training methods; her "husband" sported just a hint of a pleased smirk. An expression that most would have thought completely at odds with what someone of his reputation would be expected to have. Then again this was hardly the first time he had intentionally used his fellow Leaf-nin's real names just to provoke this reaction. It had taken several years but Kimiko had taken the edge off her boyfriend's ingrained reaction to flinch at an angry female who wasn't an enemy. Of course no good deed goes unpunished and the particular deed was no exception. With that ingrained inhibition gone Toshiro had finally come to understand why his father seemed to deliberately goad his mothers temper at times. It was true that there are few sights more frightening yet alluring at the same time than an angry female. So it had become something of a quirk of Toshiro's to stir up his girlfriend to get those embers of temper to glow. After that the trio had been too occupied with their ride for much else, even if the (barely) eldest member of the trio did make sure to answer his student's question. What Rin's reaction to finding out that his cell leader and Kimiko had been in a steady relationship for not quite seven years (making them younger than he was when they started) would remain unknown however. The question had been asked as the carriage rounded the last corner then there was no time for idle chatter as the three Leaf-nin entered the grounds of the residence of belonging to the ruler of Fire Country.

While others would call it impressive, Toshiro would have applied the term gaudy. Of course he couldn't and wouldn't say that out loud, just like he wouldn't comment on the platoons of guards in their fancy armor that Toshiro wouldn't be caught dead in. Truthfully, the only part of the palace that he approved of so far was the real security. That consisting of his kinsmen who, with the exception of the one member that had flashed the handsign for "no problems, we're ready" before melding back into the shadows, were unseen and unnoted by the party-goers. Then the carriage pulled up behind the rest and it was time to become "Tsukuen". Stepping out the carriage first then offering "Himeri" a hand down, the jounin next waved his "brother" down and sent the carriage around to wait with others of its ilk. Then he let Kimiko take the lead as those who weren't strictly titled nobility parted in front if her like waves before a warships prow. It took a great deal of control for the male jounin to snort at how easily people bought into their act. Even the guards saw nothing amiss - checking the trio's invitations and bowing them through with not the slightest indication of recognizing them as anything more than another trio of self-important nobles.

After that came a short walk through a hall more spacious than Toshiro's rather large apartment that ended in a double door flanked by two servants in the Fire Lords colors. This pair simply glanced at the three undercover Leaf-nin before opening the door with the air of monks unveiling the Holy of Holies before ushering the three into the room beyond. While he had been inside this building before for assorted clan duties, this particular room was new to him. And while his outward expression was neither impressed or critical, inwardly he wanted to find whoever had selected this particular room and kiss their feet. He had expected a monstrosity of gold, crimson, and in-your-face displays of wealth and privilege. Instead the large room was paneled in a blonde-hued wood offset by a dark purple carpet and curtains that flanked the many windows that reached from floor to ceiling. Occupying one side was the various tables groaning from their load of food and find settings while manned by widely acclaimed (and over-paid) chefs in immaculate white aprons and hats. The rest of the floor was occupied by scattered clusters of people, whose clothing along likely cost the equivalent of a B-rank mission, chatting away about this and that. In the center was the engaged pair themselves.

Compared to the guests the pair for whom this whole thing was supposed to be for were almost under-dressed. The nephew of the Fire Lord had forgone traditional garb in favor of a plain dark-blue suit similar to Toshiro's own that blended with his dark hair and eyes along with an overall build that hinted at being more physically active than the typical high-borne. Not surprising if you knew that the fellow had eschewed the lifestyle of a dissipated nobleman to establish a successful trading company and was an avid hunter. It was the former in fact that had resulted in his first meeting with the woman at his side. The first thing one might notice about the lady-to-be was her height - or rather lack of it. While her fiancé was slightly above average in stature she was barely a hair over five feet - a contrast that had Toshiro thinking of a sparrow keeping company with a hawk. Fitting since Mori Suzume's coloration wasn't that different from her name sake - brown hair past her shoulders, light brown eyes, and the quick movements such as smoothing a non-existent crease in her cream gown of someone who felt horribly out of place. Then again one could hardly blame the daughter of a minor merchant for being nervous when surrounded by people who a year ago wouldn't have spared her more than a contemptuous glance. Even now that she would technically be marrying into the royal family of Fire Country (albeit a long way from the throne) several of those were being sent her way when the pair weren't looking. All told the pair were probably the most (if not only) pleasant-seeming people in the room.

Taking that all in, Toshiro came up with two ready options. The first was to attempt to "mingle" as the natives would say and see if they could spot their mark. Alternatively he could try to coax his partners into rubbing elbows with the hosts for this evening and wait for the spy to come to them. Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and in the final math he opted for the simplest solution - let Kimiko decide. "Well dearest. Shall we go bless the up-and-comers with our presence, or pay our respects to our hosts?"

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

While still enjoying the leisurely journey in the carriage, Rin had begged the question of how long Kimiko and Toshiro had known one another. Technically, since the pair had been in the same Academy class, they had known each other for over thirteen years. However, since neither of them had actually met during that time, and they only knew of the other’s presence after seeing the graduation photo once more, it was safe to say that they had really met aged thirteen. The younger of the pair who also happened to be the female was newly thirteen, whereas her then-team mate was nearing fourteen, if her calculations were correct. She had always been the youngest out of her peer group, and when it came to her boyfriend things were no different. There was an age gap between them of almost a year, save for a couple of months, of course. A smile was present on the Katsumi female’s lips while Toshiro explained how long they had known one another for, and been in a relationship for, thinking about all the times they had shared together and continued to share too. Shinobi couples were not uncommon, but stable, steady ones were. Living a life that was inherently dangerous; fighting dangerous criminals, going on dangerous missions and all the rest that went with being a shinobi left little time for romance in general. Not only that, but the average life span of a shinobi was much lower than most, and since the young couple were only just in their twenties and Jounin too, it was a miracle in itself they were both still alive, as well as together. With all of that said and done, however, it left little time to discuss such things further because they had indeed arrived at the event that had been almost a full week in the making for the Konoha nin.

Thus far, things seemed to be going smoothly. They were accepted into the castle with no questions asked, and weren’t even given a second glance by the second group of guards at the next set of doors. The main room that they were ushered into in such a fashion that might be equivalent to that of unveiling the Holy Grail really was stunning. Kimiko had to use every ounce of her self control to not look utterly spellbound and swept away by the sheer size and splendour of the room. The decoration was very tasteful as a matter of fact, and she could never disagree with somebody who used the colour purple in their palette for interior design; it was a highly fashionable colour, and probably one of her favourites to be sure. She was not an interior designer, far from it, but she had witnessed her mother’s work firsthand in her childhood home, and had designed her own apartment to the pinnacle of fashion too. In her eyes, this really was a work of art that only huge amounts of money could afford. She had to avert her attention from the great amounts of food lined up against one wall, because she knew that rich women ate like sparrows at best; always being on pathetic diets and watching their weight and all that rubbish. In order to fit in, she couldn’t stuff her face like she might want to with all the rich ingredients that went into the wonderful smelling food that she kept catching whiffs of. For a second, she cursed her heightened feline senses because the smells were making her mouth water. She walked slowly and without direction in amongst the throngs of people, walking with her back straight, head held high and nose directed so that she had no choice but to look down at people. Every so often, she glanced back over her shoulder to check that her husband dearest and brother-in-law were still with her, and she was glad to see that they were never far away.

The further they moved into the room, the more obvious it became who would be at the centre of this hub of activity. And thus, she was not surprised to see the engaged couple stood greeting people with stiff courtesies, and looking more out of place than a fox in a chicken coop. Kimiko could see the true fear, the absolute uneasiness and anxiety of the poor bride-to-be while she had to meet and greet people who used such false kindness, probably wishing her a happy marriage and plenty of heirs. The couple were a direct contrast to one another; the giant and the mouse, in many respects. Although perhaps not so exaggerated as that. But the young woman of the pair certainly was small, and as they drew closer the Katsumi realised that if she regained her current body position, if they approached the happy couple she would be looking too far down at the bride for it to be comfortable. The trio stopped walking as they contemplated what to do; there were of course many options available. A few men and women were in conversation with the couple in the middle, and this left them more time if they did decide to go and pay their respects and give all their happy returns to them. As they stood contemplating, Toshiro posed the question to his ‘wife’ for the evening of whether they should go and speak to the bride and groom to be, or the hosts that were milling elsewhere in the large room, no doubt. ‘How do such decisions always end up falling to me?’ She thought to herself with a restrained sigh, using a small almost non-descript smile that noblemen and women used while she turned back to her beloved after contemplating their options. The engaged couple were currently without people to speak to, so now was their chance. “I daresay that we should see the lucky couple first.” Her tone matched the one she had used previously; low, controlled, and with a kind of sumptuous drawl that most noblewomen tried to use, and usually failed. For Kimiko, however, it was working rather well. “We can find the hosts in due time.” She made it obvious that after this encounter with the couple, they would be splitting up to mingle (or staying grouped together) and have a better chance of finding the spy they were looking for, or rather, the handler.

She held out an arm and linked it through one of the arms of her husband, leading the way elegantly through the crowds to the currently unoccupied pair of the evening. They looked surprised at the trio’s sudden appearance, but played their parts well enough. The woman smiled and curtsied, leaning forward to each member of the Yazuma party to kiss them on the left cheek. After she had paid the expected courtesies, her fiancé continued the offerings. He took the spare hand of Kimiko and placed a gentlemanly kiss on the back of it, and then bowed before Toshiro and Rin. “Good day to you all. I trust that you are enjoying yourselves?” The young man asked pleasantly, his tone rich and full of a musicality that was rare and hard to find. He was a handsome man, there was no doubt about that much, but he was strangely nice considering his background and upbringing. His brown-eyed and brown-haired fiancé remained silent, simply smiling and keeping her hands clasped together in front of her, resisting the urge to smooth an invisible crease in her silky cream gown. “Very much so, and in such a short amount of time too. We have only just arrived.” Kimiko smiled, dipping her head and curtsying to both the man and wife to be. “Having seen you here, we decided to give you our blessings. My name is Yazuma Himeri, this here is my husband Yazuma Tsuken, and over here is my brother-in-law, Yazuma Saneko.” Her voice flowed smoothly and she managed to sound nothing like her normal self. If she could really hear herself now, she would be proud of her acting skills, that was for sure. “Thank you so much for being here today, Mr, Mrs and Master Yazuma.” Suzume bowed her head and curtsied in return, all smiles and sweetness. Her voice betrayed only the slightest hesitation that sounded weak and fragile, portraying just how scared she really was at present. Her fiancé placed a hand on her arm reassuringly, giving her a sideward nod to show that she was conducting herself right and proper, something that seemed to boost the young woman’s confidence if only slightly.

“Now if you could excuse us, do you know where your uncle dearest might be?” Kimiko directed her attention to the male of the couple, who smiled amiably and nodded his head. He gestured with his hand to the right-hand side of the room, where a great archway led into what appeared to be and sounded like a ballroom. “You will find him and his lady wife dancing along with other guests, I can guarantee it.” He assured the Yazuma party, tilting his head as he spotted more well-wishers approaching. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.” He begged them their leave, and the trio of Konoha nin in disguise moved away respectfully in the direction of the ballroom next door. With their presence known and their blessings given to the bride and groom to be, they were fitting in with the rest of the crowd. Hidden in plain sight, was the old saying. ‘So now we must find the host and his wife to thank them for inviting us… and to remain around him for the rest of the evening until this spy reveals himself.’ She thought, looking at both of her mission partners with a look that spoke of business to attend to.

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The trio were let in quicker that the youngest member expected. If they had been stopped and searched the mission would have been over before it had begun. No doubt that the older Jonin were armed to the teeth with weapons and even the purple haired Genin himself had twin daggers strapped to his back. He prayed that they were not sticking out or were in any way visible. The entrance to the main hall of the palace was a straight walk blocked by numerous double doors and guards. Even the entrance hall was impressive, with plush blood red carpets and fancy portraits and works of art lining the walls. Some of the most regal sets of armour the teen had ever seen were stood up like dolls. One of them was made of thick steel with spikes all over it. If you went close to it no doubt you would be killed quickly. If he was on the battle field and a warrior wore that the boy would shit himself and run. Decorative weapons also covered the wall in their own special plaques. Rin liked to think of himself as a weapon expert and that he knew about most of the weapons in the world through reading. But half of the weapons on the wall were unrecognisable. They were in every shape and size, the scariest one that he could see was a dark grey with spikes on the end, it was a broad sword and it had a bladed guard with what looked like a mace at the end of it. Maybe he could get in with the owner of these weapons and see if he could get try them all out.

Huge oak doors with a gold trim lead the way into the main hall. As they were ushered in the first that the shinobi noticed was food. It was everywhere with stacks higher than houses and it would be a shame to let it all go to waste. Once the mission was over he knew the first place he would be going. Once the excitement of the food was out of the way he was hit with the extreme beauty of the room in which he was standing. It must have taken years and billions of Ryo to achieve this level of perfection. He had often heard the phrase 'nothing is perfect'. But clearly whoever had first said that had never seen this hall. But it was important not to lose his head. Kimiko started to walk toward the centre so the other two members of her team followed her. As they went deeper into the room it was evident that was were the two newly-weds were. It would be best to introduce himself to the most important people. Then he would take a position up high so he could see if their target could be identified. Luckily there was a second floor to the room which was also jam packed with people.

As they approached the couple Rin got a glimpse at both of the young pair. He had to admit that the bride was quite beautiful. Fair play to her groom, but then again it probably helped being the nephew or whatever of The Lord of the Fire Country. To be honest if he had that weapon in his arsenal he would abuse it's power on women as well. They both looked incredibly overwhelmed about the whole experience which was fair enough. If he ever got married it was unlikely that he would have a reception like this. But that was unlikely to happen for a good few years. Kimiko and Toshiro had adopted 'posh' and 'noble' position but the youngest of the three was still unable to find a suitable stance. In the end he decided to simply tilt his head back slightly and clasp his hands in front of his genitalia. He probably looked like a mug but after a quick scan a few other men had adopted the same position. After further inspection he noticed that there were not many people the same age as himself. There were a few young children but all the rest were around twenty or above. “I daresay that we should see the lucky couple first.” Kimiko started, she had a good 'posh' accent which sounded like it had been practised. Speaking of which it would be great if he were to try and change his voice in an appropriate way. “We can find the hosts in due time.” The 'husband and wife' linked arms and led the way to the centre of the room. Rin hung back and wandered behind them in a slightly awkward manner.

“Good day to you all. I trust that you are enjoying yourselves?” The groom said. The youngest of the three nodded and proceeded to kiss them both on their cheeks. Then as he had seen many times while in the room took the hand of the bride and kissed it gently. She smelled exquisite, Rin suddenly thought that this was a strange thing to think about but he ignored it anyway. The girl looked slightly flustered at this and instantly went back to being completely silent and looking slightly bewildered. She looked like a scared rabbit and looked very out of her comfort zone. Kimiko was conversing with the groom which gave the boy an excuse to look at him. He looked like a nice enough man and not like a rich snob. Had this been a normal day at home the boy would probably be wearing his comfortable 'house trousers' and a loose fitting t-shirt with a book on his lap or his cat Kuro. But this was no normal day, he would not be surprised if it turned out to be one of the most stressful of his life. His female Jonin companion was now asking the groom if he knew where his uncle was. The idea that in a few seconds he would be meeting The Lord of the country he had lived in for most of his life was filling his head. Hopefully he would not completely mess up and not be able to produce noises. They had been assured that he would be dancing with his wife somewhere on the floor. After following Kimiko to where the Lord was dancing Rin had a look at him. He looked as if he had been fed well for the most part of his life, with short cropped hair and an expensive looking suit on. Once they had introduced themselves Rin felt compelled to talk to the man. "I must say that your castle is most impressive. It is possibly the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen in my life." The Lord beamed at the boy and shook him firmly by the hand. When he thanked the shinobi his voice was brimming with self importance.

*Sorry about the long time to post again it's just with school restarting I have had a lot more work on my hands.