Hot Date [P, Amy]

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

Mission Details:

Mission Request

"Come now, you two. We mustn't keep my family waiting."

The grating voice laced with a hint of condescendence stung the young genin's ears as he glared out the window of the small wooden carriage in which the three bodies were sat. This had to be the worst mission that Dokuro had ever been tasked with in the entirety of his short career as a shinobi. He also doubted that he'd ever come across one that would even come close to rivaling this one. Sat across from the orange-haired youth was male of around the same age; perhaps a year older if the dark circles beneath his eyes were any indication. Sitting next to him was the ever annoying red-head, Takara. Once more the two had found themselves on yet another mission, though this one in particular was noteworthy for the sole fact that Takara had been deemed fit to take on the role of commanding officer. It was her show and Dokuro was simply along for the ride. This fact infuriated the youth for more reasons than one. If it wasn't enough that the young male held a strong disdain for the female, there was also the bitter realization that she was a full two years younger than he. No doubt this opportunity would cause the girl's already over-inflated ego to grow further, making her that much more of a pain to deal with. The worst part was that there was little that Dokuro could do about his current situation.

The mission was relatively simple. Some lonely jerk-off of a prince was too ashamed to show his face at a family get together without some nice looking arm candy to brandish for the world to see. In came Takara. Given the girl's privileged upbringing and admittedly pleasing aesthetic qualities, she had been selected to play the part of the prince's fiance. Where Dokuro came in though was less than satisfying for the young male. Obviously sending a genin alone on a C rank mission was not the smartest idea. Not unless said genin had a wealth of experience and success to back them up. Something that Takara did not given that her first squad had gone down horribly in flames, leaving her with the rag tag group that their sensei had affectionately " deemed "Team Reject", which truly only consisted of Dokuro, Takara, and the nameless, on-hiatus KYOBU operative dubbed "Kuro-sensei" by the two youths. For this mission Dokuro was simply the backup, a contingency plan in case things went awry, though the orange-haired youth seriously doubted that things would get that far out of hand. In the hopes of keeping Takara's guise intact Dokuro was to play the part of Takara's personal attendant and man-servant. Once again, this detail did not sit well with the youth. He hated the idea of having to wait hand and foot on the girl, pretending to smile the entire time like some brainless buffoon. It was more than he cared to stomach.

With a slight flit of the male's currently blue eyes, he'd shift his gaze in Takara's direction. Though the stolen glance was only for a split second, he could have swore he saw the girl smirking. She was probably having a hay-day with this arrangement, thinking up a variety of humiliating tasks for Dokuro to perform, further destroying what little dignity he had been allotted for this assignment. God he hated his superiors. He swore they must have sat around a small wooden table, evily conspiring about ways in which they could torment the young Kurosawa. He'd have to figure out a way to get them back, along with Takara. He'd not forget this indignation. For now though he had no choice but to grin and bear his way through what was to be his worst mission ever. 'Fuck my life...'

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

‘And mother wonders why I cannot stomach these kinds of people…’ A very disgruntled red-headed girl thought to herself, shooting a glare at the male seated next to her. His name was Haruki, of the immensely wealthy and aristocratic Makino family. He was an attractive young man, with slightly longer yet well-kept dark brown hair, and a pair of ice blue eyes. His complexion was fair, much like many of the noblemen of Kaminari no Kuni and noblemen in general; they were too rich and important to spend long hours outside toiling in the sunshine. He dressed well, wearing kimonos and formal wear in fine silks and pleasing colours, such as metallic silvers, rich emerald greens and mysterious mauves. At present, he was wearing a more informal attire of a typical buttoned pale grey shirt, and a pair of tailored black trousers. For someone of a lower class, this outfit would indeed appear classy, but to those of noble birth, these were but slacks by comparison to their formal attire.

Oh yes, as far as appearances went, this teen was picture perfect. The problem was… when he opened his mouth to say anything. How he could be such a beloved son to a wealthy aristocratic family was beyond Takara. He was bratty, he seemed to find it impossible to use any kind words (of any form), he always looked down his nose at everyone else in his company, and had a terrible habit of discrediting others behind their backs… as a hobby.

At the first meeting that she had attended with this poor excuse for a ‘princely’ figure, he had openly admitted to her that she was not his first choice due to her ‘dirty’ ninja blood, and the fact that her family was otherwise considered ‘new money’. That was enough to make her want to throttle the overgrown child trapped in a young man’s body. But he went downhill steeply from there in her estimations. Just when she thought he couldn’t be much worse, he had made a horrible comment about her height and that it would have to be fixed for the actual operation by her wearing unbelievably horrible high heels. Yes, she was on the more petite side. But his snide remarks had been overstepping his boundaries to new levels.

‘I have to pretend to be in love with this guy when I’d much rather slit his damn throat.’ She thought, heaving a sigh as she shifted in her seat, crossing her left leg over the right as she twisted her body away from him. Because they were ahead of schedule, they would arrive at the hot spring resort a considerable number of hours before his family would grace the establishment with their presence, so she had taken to wearing a more casual outfit for travelling purposes. When they arrived, she would be employing all of her (grudging) knowledge about how to appear noble, and transform herself into ‘Lady’ Takara instead of the ninja that she was.

At present, she was wearing a simple cropped black t-shirt with a large white grinning face printed on the front, a pair of pale blue short denim shorts, and sneakers. Her long crimson locks were tied back in their characteristic plait, but this was so that her hair would become wavy and lustrous when she removed the tight bind. As always, she had her chest bound with numerous bandages and binding layers to give her the appearance of being flat-chested (which Haruki had commented on in a disapproving manner). But those would disappear too when she transformed herself from the ninja into the lady.

“Takara… -hime.” Her ‘fiancée’ was supposed to be practising using nice honorifics when relating to his ‘beloved’, but he still hesitated and had issues with this task. His acting was appalling at best. She turned to face him, doing her best to look attentive and loving while she gazed at him. As part of her fake backstory, this lady that she would be acting as was a princess in her home country of Getsugakure, the Village Hidden in the Moon. Hence the ‘princess’ honorific… even if the sound of it made Takara squirm inwardly with how uncomfortable it made her feel. “Remember, my mother’s favourite colour is sky blue. I would recommend wearing a kimono which favours this colour, because she will be the most judgemental, and will appreciate your effort to please her…”

She couldn’t help but switch off immediately after she started to hear his words while he lectured her about what to do, and what not to do. She would act her part for this mission, and she would practically run away when it was all done. It made her increasingly irritated that this part of her heritage was being utilised for a ninja mission, and her two brains were greatly conflicted at present. She was a kunoichi, but she was acting a part that she knew all too well. And she didn’t like it.

“… Hai, anata*.” She waited for him to finish speaking, and used an affectionate term for good measure as she tried to refine her acting, before she fell into silence once more. Half an hour of awkward silence took hold in the carriage, until they reached their destination, The Great Geyser. Or more specifically, the exclusive resort used only by the rich and famous; Tomi Springs. The carriage stopped in front of the main sprawling hotel complex and a chauffeur leapt out to open the door for those inside to exit. Unlike a good gentleman, Haruki exited first and did not take his fiancée’s hand to help her out of the carriage. Takara felt like kicking the little so-and-so in the back of the head, breaking his neck and ending this darn mission right there. But she restrained herself, and got out of the carriage regardless.

They were ushered to their deluxe suite, where, once they arrived, Takara made her way to a large room in which she would be staying. Luckily, this family was a bit of a purest breed, which meant that they frowned upon future married couples sleeping together in the same bed, so their suite had three bedrooms instead of just the two. There was one for each of them. “How long do we have until they get here?” She asked Haruki on her way past him, to which he narrowed his eyes sceptically at her. “I’m not sure what it is you’re planning to do in order to become this ‘lady’, but we have three hours until they arrive.”

She raised a hand up in a motionless wave as she turned to walk towards her bedroom with her back to him, opening the door and moving inside. “Plenty of time.” She slammed the door shut behind her, and then took a deep breath to pause and have a look around the room. It was huge; probably the size of a typical family home’s floorplan, and that wasn’t including the en suite bathroom and walk-in wardrobe. Said wardrobe was filled with clothing already, making it obvious that her choices on clothing and such were already made for her, in many ways. ‘Better make a start…’ She heaved a sigh, realising that she would have to make full use of the three hours in order to truly transform into the lady her mother had tried in vain to mould from her being a young girl.

* Anata = Affectionate term, used between close couples. Means 'dear'.

Age : 34 Posts : 1209

A strange mixture of both helplessness and bitterness began to grow within the young genin as he played the part of the silent observer. For the time being there wasn't much for Dokuro to do other than pose as Takara's personal servant, even so, there was no way Dokuro was going to accompany the female into her room to help her prepare for the arrival of Haruki's family; a sentiment that he was sure the red-headed female shared. They had spent more than their fair share of time together, no need to make things more awkward between them by putting the two of them in such a compromising position. For now Dokuro decided it would be best to mentally gather himself for the hell he was sure to endure for the good of the mission. Before he could do that though, Haruki was already working against him.

"What was your name again? Doki-something?"

"Dokuro."

The annoyance in his voice, while slight was definitely present. He hated that name, it was one that Takara often used to get on his nerves. No doubt more of such treatment would await the young genin this weekend.

"Whatever. I need you to go to the lobby and wait for my family. While I doubt many will show up before the expected time, there is no denying that there are a few members of my family that can only be described as....overzealous."

Already Dokuro felt his jaw clenching. The man's voice was grating enough but the way in which he felt he could order the young shinobi around was beyond infuriating. Still, Dokuro knew he really had little say in the matter and as such could only nod before offering a defeated response.

"Alright, let me just let Takara...-hime know."

While regarding the half-hearted response with a look of sheer skepticism and disapproval, Haruki could offer little in the way of protest as Dokuro made his way toward the closed door of Takara's room. Not daring to intrude on the girl's preprations, Dokuro would only offer a soft series of knocks before speaking in a voice loud enough to carry through to the room's interior.

"Takara-hime, Haruki-san has asked me to stay in the lobby to greet any early arrivals....If you should need me don't hesitate to call upon me."

The words sounded strange as they spilled forth from Dokuro's mouth. The fashion in which he spoke wasn't his usual dialect at all but he had practiced hard to speak with a more refined tongue just for this mission. The two had been given a good amount of notice before today about the mission's details and despite Dokuro's seemingly apathetic attitude toward the whole ordeal, he truly had no desire to be the sole reason for the mission's failure.

Without further delay the youth was off, strolling out of the suite and toward the lobby where he stood attentively, awaiting any new arrivals that would possibly show up earlier than expected.

Just as Haruki had expected though, none of his clan had bothered to show much earlier than three hours on the dot, save for a single young couple whom were apparently distant cousins of Haruki from his mother's side. Playing his part perfectly, Dokuro politely introduced himself and proceeded to help the resort workers in carrying their luggage to the couple's appointed suite. By the time the three hour mark had been hit though the influx of people had noticeably increased, the whole family showing up in a massive throng that made even Dokuro feel uncomfortable as he tried to silently make his way back to Takara and Haruki's suite to let them know that the majority of the guests had arrived. The list, from what Dokuro could remember consisted so far of Haruki's parents, his three brothers and their wives and his two sisters, one whom was married and one who had yet to be betrothed to another noble, Haruki's two uncles from his father's side and their accompanying wives and children and his uncle and aunt's family from his mother's side. There were more, obviously but Dokuro was beyond his breaking point for concentration when it came to remembering all the familial relations. He had only bothered to learn the closest and most noteworthy people, neglecting to take into account third or fourth cousins and those who were generations removed from Haruki. Knocking lightly on Takara's door in the same fashion as before, Dokuro would speak in an exaggerated voice so that she could hopefully hear him.

"Haruki-san's family have arrived, Takara-hime. I hope your preparations are finished."

Despite the seemingly polite manner in which Dokuro tried to speak, there was no hiding the frustration in his voice; a frustration that was most likely brought on due to having to humor the various nobles upon their arrival.

"They're very...eager to meet you..."

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Kimono:

The frustration and irritation that Dokuro was feeling at present wasn’t lost on the red-head; she could sense it from a mile off. Not only was their client insufferable, but the idiot had been demoted to being ‘back-up’ in this case. Takara was the leader on this mission, and the show was basically all about her… literally. She was the one that was being paraded around as some pretty lady for the benefit of their client, and she was the one calling the shots. In any other situation, she would be exploiting the hell out of this. But because of the nature of their assignment, and how… annoyed she was with the company she had to keep, her mind was extremely occupied. She hadn’t even insulted her team mate for at least a week now. Since she had been introduced to the young man whom she must pretend to be madly in love with, her heart just hadn’t been in it, so to speak.

It was beginning to whittle away at her resolve, and normally steadfast mask that she wore to separate herself from the world around her; to make her seem tough and strong. She had been told to dress and act like a lady, and she was faced with the dilemma she had been facing for her whole life once more. It was all hitting rather too close to home for her liking. She heard her team mate’s words from the other side of her closed door, but did not make an effort to reply. Her slate green eyes stared glassily in that general direction as she stood motionless in the centre of the room, not really wishing to get started. This was something that she had wanted to leave behind, and yet, here she was; face to face with this other side of her brain, and having to play both parts at the same time. She was a ninja by default, acting tough and strong to make others take her seriously. And now, she was acting like a tough ninja acting like a gentle, feminine lady…

Confusing much?

She shook her head to bring her back to reality, and to stop herself from dwelling too much on all of these overly confusing thoughts. A soft sigh left her lips as she moved to the large walk-in wardrobe, and started to skim over the numerous items of expensive clothing within. There was a whole line of formal attire, which was where she started to study more in depth what kind of kimono she wouldn’t mind wearing. Bearing in mind the statement Haruki had made about how his mother’s favourite colour was ‘sky blue’, she drifted to the section which adhered to this colour scheme. Rather than spending too much time being picky, she reached out and grabbed the first kimono of that colour that she laid eyes on, and later grimaced as she realised that it was so… girlie.

It was a rich, pastel shade of the aforementioned colour, with a low neckline and dipped sleeves. It was floor-length, as was expected of a formal kimono, and it was emblazoned with a soft butterfly motif. Even the obi was tied in an onyx fashioned butterfly. The womanly part of Takara’s mind adored this kimono, and the ninja part scolded her stupidity. ‘I can’t spend more time choosing a kimono that is at least somewhat practical. The whole point of this is to appear impractical; like a woman.’ She rolled her eyes and took the kimono with her out of the wardrobe, laying it out on the king sized bed to keep it from getting creased. After doing as much, she went to the bathroom in order to shower and freshen up after travelling.

She washed her hair with delicate-smelling orchid shampoo, and scented herself with lavender soap coupled with a light, citrusy perfume. With that done, she made her way back into the bedroom and sat in a fluffy white towel at the vanity table to pay attention to her hair. She used another towel to dry it as much as possible, and tease it into long flowing curls. Next, she focused on preparing her face with numerous kinds of make-up. She started with a base of foundation, added hints of pink blusher contoured carefully to highlight her high cheekbones and heart-shaped face. Then she lengthened her eyelashes with an eyelash curling device, before coating them with pitch black mascara for the perfect flutter effect. Her eyelids were coloured a very soft shade of silvery blue to bring out the colours in the kimono better, and she carefully drew a line of onyx eyeliner on her top eyelids, to ‘make her eyes pop’ coupled with the colour and her long eyelashes. To finish, she plumped her lips with a pastel pink lipstick, and drew a darker pink lip liner around her lips to emphasise them further.

She stared long and hard in the mirror, barely able to recognise herself already. She shook her head and turned away, moving from the vanity station to dress herself. It was important to note that, in spite of her having large breasts for her age, she needed to make them appear bigger. She was acting the part of a seventeen-year-old, after all. To do this, she utilised a flattering (yet very painful) boned corset, which she tied herself into as tight as possible, leaving the top slightly undone to push and accentuate her breasts. Her breathing almost laboured, she fastened herself into the silky kimono and tied it with the wrap at the front.

After adjusting her long hair, which was currently left loose to sway at her hips, she fastened the large, stylised obi at her back. In the full-length mirror stood opposite her was an entirely different girl. She was no longer the Hiromatsu Takara that she knew herself to be, and instead, was quite a different young lady. She looked like a true princess.

Shying away from her image in the mirror, she focused on hunting down a pair of high heels that her ‘future husband’ wanted her to wear so that she didn’t appear as short. ‘Psh, he obviously doesn’t appreciate ‘petite’… ugh…’ She thought to herself as she dug out a pair of six-inch heeled platforms. Just as she was about to tackle wearing them, she heard a knock at the door, and was aware of Dokuro calling for her to come out and meet their client’s family. She cursed softly and hurriedly put the heels on, strapping them on the tightest fitting and getting to her feet, slightly teetering at the height of them. She had shot up a mighty six inches, from 4’8” to around 5’3”, which was more ‘acceptable’. Her feet were arching in such a horrid manner, but she gritted her teeth and she worked with it, walking to the door as her mother had showed her to do when she was learning to walk in high heels, and opened it swiftly.

She was far too worried about pulling off a perfect lady façade that she didn’t even care about the fact that Dokuro would probably start laughing at her. “Alright. I’m ready.” She exited her bedroom and found Haruki, who looked especially approving of her transformation. “Quite the nice polishing, my lady. Shall we?” He offered her his arm, and she took it grudgingly, offering a thin-lipped smile to him as they started to make their way to the stunning function suite which had been designated for the use of Haruki’s family for the entire stay.

It was quite the long walk, and Takara was sure that her feet were about to buckle and twist, but they finally arrived. It appeared to be nearly time for dinner (which meant that there was at least another two hours until the actual food was served), as a huge array of silk-clad tables were set up in the expansive room. Minor lords and ladies were scattered throughout, holding tall glasses of champagne and chatting about trivial issues. The entire room slowly fell into a hush, however, as Haruki and his ‘bride-to-be’ entered. A regal-looking pair swept towards them, eyes aglow with pride as they looked at their son and the red-head.

“Oh, it is such a pleasure to meet you at last, Takara-hime. And may I say, I have been misled by my son! He could have never prepared me with mere words to express your radiant beauty.” The woman gushed, obviously Haruki’s mother. She exchanged the typical ‘one kiss on each cheek’ greeting and smiled as genuinely as she could, bowing her head in a manner which showed how flattered she was. “It is a delight to meet you at last, Makino-san.” She used a very formal method of address, such was customary for greeting people of their calibre. “No, no, please, call me Ayaka. I am your future mother-in-law, after all!” The blonde lady smiled and led the way inside the room, ushering her son and Takara to the seats at the centre. She suddenly stopped, however, as she noticed the orange-haired boy following behind the young couple and gestured towards him, obviously confused. “Ahem… this boy is one of your servants, is he not, Takara-hime? May I ask why he is trailing after you when he has a place on the serving table?” Ayaka’s eyes were filled with prejudice and disgust, and the red-head felt herself getting quite defensive all of a sudden. It took all of her self-restraint she harboured not to slap the horrid woman straight across the face.

She was looking at Dokuro as if he was dirt… and Takara didn’t like it one bit.

“Ah, Ayaka-san… this is Dokuro, and he is very important to me, you see. We were raised alongside one another since early childhood. Since I never had a brother, he acted like one to me. I would very much like it if he could sit alongside me at the table… I am very sorry for the inconvenience.” She bowed her head in apology, appearing sincere in the words she spoke. It made the room break out into silent, confused chatter, until Ayaka held up her hands to silence everyone, forcing a smile and clasping her hands together. “What a kind-hearted soul you are. In that case, he may sit with you.”Before testing her luck further, Takara hurried to her seat and, after waiting for Haruki to pull out her chair, sat down gracefully. At her left, her ‘future husband’ was seated, and at her right, her team mate was supposed to sit now. A lord across the room grumbled unhappily about the fact that he would now have to move places to allow for a mere serving boy, but didn’t say much more.

The pointlessly long dinner commenced.