Blue Blood Renegades

[Kabu]

Hitomi had never had a particular liking for politics or those who engaged in it as most only did so for the purposes of furthering their own goals. While she was old enough to fully understand that it was a necessary evil she still couldn't help but feel at times that it only led to trouble for the common folk. This was one of those times. Whether noble, civilian, or even shinobi... there were those who felt dissatisfied with the way things were and it seemed they were beginning to band together. There had been reports of frequent gatherings which in itself wasn't strange or all that worrisome as it was just like a noble to throw their weight around like so. What was strange and worrisome was incoming rumors of disgruntled nobles planning a coup and hiring like minded shinobi to do the dirty work, taking care of their enemies and gathering information in preparation for the war to come.

Of course there was no actual proof as of yet but she and a young Chuunin had been assigned to gather the evidence they needed to shut the operation down. Of course she had been more than willing to take on the task, for a number of reasons but one more important than any others. As always her young son was at the forefront of her mind, fueling her drive and anger. For his sake there was no way she was going to let these dirty politicians and rogue shinobi have their way with her country and village if she had anything to say about it.

And so she was currently at her favorite cafe overlooking the market district, sitting at a table outside, calmly sipping on tea as she awaited her mission partner so they could make a plan and get on their way.

[Kanade]

Chiaki planned to wake up and meet her mission partner before she got there at the aforementioned spot, but had forgotten her ninja supplies at home, so she plodded along back the same route that she had at least a good ten minutes ago, looking rather annoyed with herself. Her hair hung over her scar, obscuring it from view and she was wearing her gi and her kumogakure headband across her chest.

She was supposed to be meeting some girl by the name of Hitomi, whom she had never met, but understood that she was a Jounin in rank, and held the village's hopes and dreams on her shoulders. Chiaki couldn't say the same about herself. Sure, her medical ninjutsu wasn't anything to sneeze at anymore, but she had a long way to go to carry anyone's hopes or dreams on her shoulders other than her own.

She had been briefed a little about the mission, an infiltration mission, and since Chiaki had stirred up trouble in the village hidden in the clouds and had been denied both special jounin and Jounin ranks, she was probably going to be their 'in' for the mission. Sighing heavily she rounded the corner with her hands in the pockets of her tight-fitting short shorts that she wore under her gi, looking up at the cloudless sky. Village hidden in the mountains more like.

Looking down, she found herself staring, rather unabashedly, at a rather pale skinned, grey haired woman. She had seen this type of person before, Cros was one. So she was going to go on a mission with a denjiton user? No, best not to make assumptions. She lazily walked with a fake swagger towards the woman, feeling more and more nervous about her first interactions with her superior.

"Kyoukan, Chiaki, reporting in. I hear we're supposed to be teaming up for something that the Raikage wants taken care of?" she asked, jumping over the small fence easily and pulling up a chair. Her bravado was faked, and anyone with two eyes could see that she was nervous, nervous for one of the first missions she had been on since what she called 'the hospital incident'. No doubt her record had been laid out for Hitomi. One of her pearl morphos butterflies landed on the table, three on her shoulders, and one on the top of her head. Cheeky little things. They weren't of any use in combat as of yet, but they did make for good infiltration bugs, and also were great look outs, being small enough to fit ten on the end of her finger.

[Kabu]

As she waited for Chiaki to arrive Hitomi watched the villagers go about their day, her drive to see things through getting ever stronger as she considered the possibility of this momentary peace being brought to an end. She had been through enough to know that true peace didn't currently exist but she was going to do her damnedest to keep up the illusion. If she did that and worked hard enough then just maybe her long fight would come to mean something and the world would one day truly know peace.

For now though there was work to be done, the young Chuunin soon entering into her field of view. She truly was a pretty little thing, didn't look like she could hurt a fly. It was strange as she had read a report of this particular young lady having been at the center of quite a bit of trouble.

Oh well... she wasn't about to go digging into the girl's personal matters. She had gotten into a bit of trouble herself during her youth, her temporary rebellious phase having led to no small number of problems and embarrassing incidents, albeit largely minor in scale.

Nonetheless... it was clear the girl was nervous, Hitomi unable to help but giggle. "Now now, there's no need to be so formal around me. For now let's set aside rank and talk as equals, eh? There may come a time where rank is of importance but that day is not today." she spoke with a gentle smile."Before we talk business, how about we have us a little chat over tea and get to know each other a little. After all we can't really work nearly as well together if we're basically strangers, eh?"

[Kanade]

Chiaki nodded at Hitomi once and decided to slide into her chair on the opposite side of the Jounin. She had no idea whether or not she was going to be reprimanded or not during the chat, but she assumed that the Jounin had heard of her escapades, the blunder that had leveled half of the hospital of Kumogakure no Sato, and had killed her sensei and her mother.

“Mmmm.” She nodded, “Thank you very much for your kind words Ishiguro-” She thought of an honorific that would suit the woman sitting across from her, “Sama.” She fidgeted and as the waitress came by, she ordered an oolong tea with hibiscus and blueberry blossoms in it.

“I don’t want to offend, but being thought of as on the same level as someone who has done more for the village than I have, I feel rather-” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked out at the passing people, looking for the right word. Was it ‘strange? Honored? Awkward?’ She settled on “undeserving of that luxury.” She sighed. The informalities of rank had landed her in her current predicament in the first place, and she wanted to make sure that they didn’t land her in a future one.

“Mmm, I agree with that at least, Ishiguro-sama.” She decided that she would sit cross-legged and waited for her tea to arrive, “I am not sure if you know much about me besides my file, so I’ll introduce myself.” She smiled wide, though it didn’t reach her eyes. There was wariness there, a look of a person who had trusted and been devastated, and recently.

“I am a pries-” She stopped, bit her bottom lip, “I am a doctor for Kumogakure no Sato hospital, and working my way to becoming a full-time medical surgeon and transplantation specialist. I am rather fond of butterflies, as I am sure that you noticed, and I like to work away my jitters in the smithy in my free-time.”

Chiaki didn’t think that she could make this more awkward. Luckily, she was saved the embarrassment of talking more, and widening the gap, rather than closing it with the woman across from her by the arrival of her tea, which she took the clandestined opportunity to hide her face behind by a rather zealous tasting of the tea.

Looking anywhere but Hitomi, she could tell that she had botched the introduction, or felt ilke she did, and admired the craftsmanship of the cup, and the flavor profile of her slightly caffeinated tea. It was good, perfectly brewed, and didn’t have the bother of having loose tea leaves in it, but rather had been strained at just the right steeping time and temperature so that it wasn’t bitter. What a lovely little shop.