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Punslinger
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Post by Punslinger » Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:39 am

Shino hummed a soft but jaunty tune as he finished the knot and bit the thread clean with his teeth. The fine, dark thread wasn't very strong and would break with little effort, but not before making a hell of a racket by jangling and subsequently dropping the tin cans and garbage he'd strung from the crevices in the ceiling. Even with a light source, the thread wasn't wire and wouldn't reflect light or cast a shadow unless someone lit the area like daylight and started nosing around. Worse, he'd buried some wooden shingles under the dirt further down to effect the same jangling chorus, and then sprinkled dust from the ceiling over his marks to erase evidence of his passing. By the time she reached the training room, he estimated she'd stumble over, on or through roughly 5 of the 15 or so such party favors he'd laid out over the last hour.

It had been a week since he'd begun his observation of the genma host, and already he was disgruntled with his charge. While far from incapable as a combatant and an absurdly acute sensor, she had little to no situational awareness unless it was by relying on her genma powers. Powers that could be beaten by a string and some knots. He sighed, chiding himself. She wasn't particularly old or experienced, and from what he'd read a great deal of her career had been expended just reigning in a monster in her chest. His job was to compensate for that unfortunate naivete, not exploit it. But... an object lesson never hurt, right?

He smiled, trotting off down the tunnel to her usual training area. She'd be along any minute, and she'd be on her toes if she sensed his presence. First day on a new assignment was always so interesting.
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[Rank] Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Shin
Missions Accomplished: Shinfo Mission


[Rank] Jounin • Konohagakure no Sato • Tsutomu
Missions Accomplished:
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[Rank:] Bannin • Iwagakure no Sato • Sekitan OushiHanpatsuFubuki HabikuroShuuchaku

[Rank:] D-Rank Missing-Nin • Sunagakure no Sato Mamoru

[Rank:] Chuunin• Kirigakure no Sato • Orai, Kouu

[Rank:] Genin • Kumogakure no Sato • Shitagane, Iori

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Amy
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Post by Amy » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:31 am

" SON OF A BITCH. "

Aimi’s voice rang out through the tunnels, sounding out well over the sound of tin crashing to the ground. It was too early for this shit. All she wanted was to get out of the compound, away from prying eyes, away from the gossip, and train until she couldn’t stand anymore. She hated clans. She couldn’t go anywhere without getting sideways glances, giggles. People wondering about her and Hoten staying in the same house. How very scandalous. It was downright exhausting. And now, it seemed, someone had let a child loose in the tunnels and they had taken it upon themselves to ruin her morning.

The first booby trap had been a surprise, but she recovered quickly. Someone being stupid, fine. The second one had her jaw clenched. The third one and she was muttering under her breath, her blood pumping faster. And now, as she finally reached the training room, she was done and over it with half a mind to leave the tunnels altogether, find out who had decided this was a good idea, and then show them how much of a poor idea it really was. It seemed, though, as she stumbled into the room, kicking wire from her ankles, that she didn’t have to go looking afterall. He was waiting there for her.

Fists clenched, she raised one hand, pointing a finger at him, her face tensed in a snarl. " You. " Her voice dropping to a growl, she had to try again, stepping closer. Not caring about his size or who he was. Useless information to her. " What...exactly. Your handiwork, right? Do you think you’re funny? You think I have time for your little games!? Get out of my training room. " Crossing her arms over her chest she stared him down, chest heaving, eyes steady. Waiting for him to listen to her.
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B-Rank MNKatō, Tsubaki #DC143C #C82848
Sp. Jounin • Kirigakure no Sato • Araki Kiyo #DDA0DD
Akibushi • Heart Empire • Kimura, Misaki
Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Kazuma #00BF80

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Punslinger
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Post by Punslinger » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:49 am

Almost exactly on time. The woman's trek from the compound to her hideaway had taken all of 15 minutes, same as usual, her footprints littering the dirt floor, heavy and purposeful with no caution or finesse. Much the same could be said of her personality, but then, that was expected.

Shino had been lazing in a corner, half in and half out of a sling he'd hammered into the wall with pitons while munching on a small basket of dim sum from his pack. He stood leisurely upon Aimi's entry, enduring her tirade with quiet indifference as he dusted crumbs from the ruffles on his shirt, and then surprisingly, took a knee in a very deep bow.

"Madam Tanaka, I understand you're to marry soon. My congratulations and best wishes to yourself and the Shoshiki scion. May your children grow up soft and well educated. I apologize for the intrusion, but I thought you might prefer a more thorough assurance of your privacy. I can take them down if you wish it. Or."

He looked up, making eye contact for the first time and an inscrutable look passed across his features before resuming his passive stare.

"I could show you where they are and how to reset them."
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[Rank] Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Shin
Missions Accomplished: Shinfo Mission


[Rank] Jounin • Konohagakure no Sato • Tsutomu
Missions Accomplished:
Past CharactersShow
[Rank:] Bannin • Iwagakure no Sato • Sekitan OushiHanpatsuFubuki HabikuroShuuchaku

[Rank:] D-Rank Missing-Nin • Sunagakure no Sato Mamoru

[Rank:] Chuunin• Kirigakure no Sato • Orai, Kouu

[Rank:] Genin • Kumogakure no Sato • Shitagane, Iori

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Amy
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Post by Amy » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:34 pm

Scoffing, Aimi swung her coat off from her shoulders, tossing it against the wall. Madam. The word repeated through her mind with a tone of disgust, a feeling that flashed across her face as well.

" I don’t know how you know my name and quite honestly I don’t particularly care. Thanks for the good wishes, but I really think it’s best if you take your little hammock and your little tricks and games and you get. Out. Like I asked in the first place. This isn’t a show, there’s no seats available. Private event. Get out. " Really, she couldn’t make herself more clear. How much she despised his very presence in the room. How the very thought of being there with him was causing every single nerve in her body to reverb with anger. If he had simply been there she might have asked him to leave, nicely. Maybe. Probably not, but still.

" I have....less than no interest in learning how to set your traps. I am quite capable of ensuring my privacy myself. I am doing so right now. " Placing her hands on her hips she squared off to him again. Tense, and uncaring as to what he must think of her. Just as she always was. Smiling, sweetly but with a sinister underlying she spoke a final time.

" I won’t ask again. Out. "
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B-Rank MNKatō, Tsubaki #DC143C #C82848
Sp. Jounin • Kirigakure no Sato • Araki Kiyo #DDA0DD
Akibushi • Heart Empire • Kimura, Misaki
Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Kazuma #00BF80

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Punslinger
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Post by Punslinger » Sun Feb 21, 2016 1:02 pm

"Of course."

Shino stood, clearing his throat as he turned and began folding his impromptu furniture piece.

"Madame, my name is Koishinobu of clan Enkouten, A-Rank village asset. As of today your previous handler Masaharu Taiko has been promoted to a position within the Kinjuu. We are all very proud of him, and he sends his regards, for whatever that's worth to you."

Stuffing the cloth into his napsack, he stood and paced toward the exit, turning to face her upon reaching it.

"The good news is that I'm your bodyguard, not your handler. The bad news is my objective is no different. I specialize in this, and while it may not seem like it," he gestured to the tunnel, "I'm never more than a loud shout away. It's very nice to meet you and again, please excuse the intrusion."

Resettling the strap on his shoulder, the older man began walking down the tunnel before stopping briefly to add in a slightly raised voice.

"Left on the first half, right on the second. They'll be gone in the morning."
Well, that had gone about as well as expected. Then again, she was nobility. Raised by shinobi, groomed for greatness, then gutted like a trout and stuffed with a demon. The expectation of privacy as a government owned weapon? Priceless. He'd had a good chuckle at that one, or would later over drinks.

Exiting the tunnel network, he stopped for two sticks of dango and some red bean soup from a vendor. This part of down had the best street food, or at least the most decadent. Sighing as he climbed higher and higher through the maze of walkways and paths, he exited at his destination, one of the towers just north of the Shoshiki clan compound, with a clear view of the goings on below. Pulling out a spyglass, the bodyguard finished the last of his soup, picked his teeth with the skewer, and rolled onto his stomach to wait.

Stubborn, naive, and just on the cusp of a storybook ending with the love of her life. He remembered what that felt like. He could play with kid gloves for a while, at least until the wedding was over.
CharactersShow
[Rank] Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Shin
Missions Accomplished: Shinfo Mission


[Rank] Jounin • Konohagakure no Sato • Tsutomu
Missions Accomplished:
Past CharactersShow
[Rank:] Bannin • Iwagakure no Sato • Sekitan OushiHanpatsuFubuki HabikuroShuuchaku

[Rank:] D-Rank Missing-Nin • Sunagakure no Sato Mamoru

[Rank:] Chuunin• Kirigakure no Sato • Orai, Kouu

[Rank:] Genin • Kumogakure no Sato • Shitagane, Iori

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Amy
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Post by Amy » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:14 pm

It was a good four or five hours later that Aimi left the training room. She had been surprised when Shino left. She was used to Taiko who never listened to her or her threats. Who took every opportunity to infuriate her more, teaching her something, she supposed. Or maybe he had just had as bad of a temper as she did and he had been her superior as he so often liked to point out. Good for him for getting a promotion. She’d miss the guy...maybe. Maybe not. He always had been a bit of an ass. But now, apparently, she was stuck with another one. She preferred having a handler, she already decided.

Taiko was there to train with her. To teach her. Other than that he left her alone. This guy, Shino, apparently wasn’t going to be more than a shout away at all times. They were going to have to talk about that if he was serious. And then she was going to have to go yell at the council. She had herself, she had Nolosha, and she had Hoten. She didn’t need some beefy guy following her around all day keeping her in check or whatever it was exactly that he planned on doing.

These were the thoughts, worries, plans, that ran through her head as she danced around the training room. She didn’t get to work on her Doton much anymore, everyone encouraging her to tap into the Genma. Learn how to utilize. How to be most effective. But today she needed stress relief and that meant manipulating what existed around her. And then destroying it until she was covered in a thin layer of dust and her muscles hurt and she didn’t want to move anymore. It was only then that she exited the room. She could go back to Hoten’s house but she really just didn’t want to. Food sounded good though so she turned towards the market. Pick up a few things, maybe head to the library. To the outskirts of the village. She just had to be back for dinner. No one else needed to know what she did before then.

It was while deliberating the fruit options in front of her that she wished she had taken the second option she gave to herself and gone to the outskirts of the village. Because people sucked. And when someone bumped into her, pushing in front of her and shoving her away from the stand, she quite literally threw her hands into the air.

" I’m sorry, can I help you with something? "

" Not at all sweetheart, but thanks for the apology. "

Aimi chuckled, grabbing the boy’s arm and shoving him behind her, taking her place back in front of the stand.

" Excuse me- "

Aimi spun before the boy could keep talking. Her hand on his chest, holding him at arm’s length. " I would think twice before you speak. I really recommend it. " Tilting her head, she watched as he considered what to do. All the while preparing herself to knock him on his ass.
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B-Rank MNKatō, Tsubaki #DC143C #C82848
Sp. Jounin • Kirigakure no Sato • Araki Kiyo #DDA0DD
Akibushi • Heart Empire • Kimura, Misaki
Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Kazuma #00BF80

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Punslinger
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Post by Punslinger » Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:00 pm

Dammit. It was in her profile, sure, but this was ridiculous. She'd taken her sweet time in a busy market place and a scruffy young man had gotten tired of waiting on her, not that she'd care. Typical, everybody's time is more important than everyone else's. No, this wasn't even a particularly uncommon occurrence for her; for someone who liked privacy as much as she claimed, she had a knack for getting involved in very public incidents.

He abruptly inserted himself in between the two, pressing a few coins into the surly teen's palm, holding the boy's gaze with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Tell you what, I'll handle this before she kills you, and you go get yourself a hotpot, on me. Should be enough left over for your market list; consider it my apology."

The boy opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it as the numbers in his hand reached his head. With a final glare at the woman as he left, the teen disappeared into the throng.

"No sympathy for the devil, huh. Do you really have to ruffle your feathers over a street tough?" he asked, not making eye contact as his eyes traced the crowd around them.

It didn't matter whether she'd tracked his descent from the tower or not, what mattered was that his response time had been acceptable. This had been an experiment as much as anything, and he was satisfied with his ability to stay out of her sensor range while still being as seemingly omnipresent as he'd promised.
CharactersShow
[Rank] Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Shin
Missions Accomplished: Shinfo Mission


[Rank] Jounin • Konohagakure no Sato • Tsutomu
Missions Accomplished:
Past CharactersShow
[Rank:] Bannin • Iwagakure no Sato • Sekitan OushiHanpatsuFubuki HabikuroShuuchaku

[Rank:] D-Rank Missing-Nin • Sunagakure no Sato Mamoru

[Rank:] Chuunin• Kirigakure no Sato • Orai, Kouu

[Rank:] Genin • Kumogakure no Sato • Shitagane, Iori

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Amy
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Post by Amy » Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:34 pm

When Shino appeared, Aimi almost walked away. It almost wasn’t worth the fight to stay and deal with him. With him obviously paying the kid off to get rid of him. He was nothing. Easy to crush. It would have been fun. And then Shino was going to appear like a freaking babysitter and ruin all of her fun and make her seem like...well, a child. She wasn’t a child. She was a respected Special Jounin Jinchuuriki with a temper like no other. And she wanted to kick the guy in his smart head. Despite the fact that Shino wasn’t even looking at her, Aimi smiled overly sweetly at his back.

" I was just shopping. He came up and started ruffling my feathers. I was just going to show him what a bad idea that was. You should have watched you might have learned a thing or two. "

Aimi did not appreciate that he was close enough to watch her and she didn’t know he was there. Her sensory abilities were good but she needed to concentrate to pick someone out of a crowd. Usually. Luckily, she had developed a jutsu just for a case like this. Since he had appeared, she had started focusing on his life force specifically. It was annoyingly strong. Useful. His outer appearance wasn’t just for show. But at least, now, she would know when he got close. It would make him easy to track. Easy to run away from. Easy to avoid.

" So is this really what you’re supposed to do all day? Follow me at a distance and keep me out of schoolyard scuffles? Seems a bit annoying. I won’t tell anyone if you just decided I was too much work. Really. Just stay away from me. "

With her jutsu complete, Aimi had no reason to hang around him anymore. But still she waited. Waited for confirmation. A small amount of hope that he would agree to just leave her alone.
SpoilerShow
Marked
Form 0
B-Rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisites: Control Stat of 7
After forming the needed hand seals the user will focus on one life-force that is within two meters of them. The user must be held in this jutsu for the entirety of one post. At the end of the post, the user will have committed the life-force to memory and will sense whenever they enter within a two mile range of the user.
My CharactersShow
B-Rank MNKatō, Tsubaki #DC143C #C82848
Sp. Jounin • Kirigakure no Sato • Araki Kiyo #DDA0DD
Akibushi • Heart Empire • Kimura, Misaki
Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Kazuma #00BF80

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Punslinger
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Post by Punslinger » Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:58 pm

God, this was going to be a long assignment. The bodyguard turned as his charge addressed him.

“It certainly beats tutoring some noble's pampered brat.” he said dryly. Technically still true, if only just. Sighing, the big man removed his spectacles and rubbed his nose, his expression becoming more human than it had been previously. Clearly, this woman responded no better to professional courtesy than she did insults, and he wasn't about to try maintaining a charade for the next however many months it took for her evaluators to decide to change something.

“You don't think I know how powerful you are? How terrible would I be as a bodyguard if I hadn't studied every known aspect of your abilities.” There was no question posed in his tone, and if he noticed the signs of concentration or duplicity in her body language he said nothing about it, folding the frames and hanging them from the ruffled collar of his shirt. He continued as he turned to addressed the vendor.

“One please.” he presented a small denomination and looked over his shoulder at Aimi.

“I like to drink, sometimes more than I ought to. It chases out thoughts I don't want to have and warms the blood on cold nights. But no matter what I do, before I take a sip, I use a sealing technique to limit my movements.” he gestured to a spot on his right shoulder, just below the collarbone before reaching into his belt for one of the long obsidian knives he kept within easy reach. Three practiced, nonchalant and certainly not flashy movements later, he held a cup-like shape, the seedy centers scooped out with only the rich orange, almost coral flesh remaining. The knife was returned to its place, replaced by a crude tin spoon from somewhere behind him in his pack, and he scooped out a small wedge to sample before continuing, allowing himself to enjoy the treat.
CharactersShow
[Rank] Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Shin
Missions Accomplished: Shinfo Mission


[Rank] Jounin • Konohagakure no Sato • Tsutomu
Missions Accomplished:
Past CharactersShow
[Rank:] Bannin • Iwagakure no Sato • Sekitan OushiHanpatsuFubuki HabikuroShuuchaku

[Rank:] D-Rank Missing-Nin • Sunagakure no Sato Mamoru

[Rank:] Chuunin• Kirigakure no Sato • Orai, Kouu

[Rank:] Genin • Kumogakure no Sato • Shitagane, Iori

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Amy
Posts: 6858
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:00 pm

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Post by Amy » Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:13 pm

" Is that supposed to be some sort of snide remark? You like to enjoy yourself, but you’re responsible first? Are you implying I’m irresponsible? I have one of those too. "

Pulling the front of her shirt down, Aimi exposed the seal on her upper chest. The mark of the Genma. The seal that kept the overwhelming chakra presence inside of her under control. Most of the time. It was a part of her, a part that she never forgot about. Taking a deep breath and letting her cheeks blow out in frustration. Holding her breath, bouncing on her heels. There was no fight to be had with Shino, she couldn’t take him, not without help from the Genma. And last time she had let the Genma take control she’d been lectured for weeks and had to be sedated and it just was not a fun time.

With a giant sigh, she released the breath she had been holding in, satisfied that Shino’s life force was now bleeping happily at her. No more surprise interjections. She had no more interest in eating either, rolling her eyes at how adept he was at preparing his food. He probably did everything like that. Precise. Perfect. All of his stupid little traps set with the utmost care and attention to detail. Oh how she hated him.

" So what, what exactly were you trying to say to me? You wanna go get a drink? Seems a bit inappropriate don’t you think? Or do you ask all of your charges do get drunk with you? And here I thought you were a responsible teacher. "

Rolling her eyes again, Aimi started making her way through the crowd towards home. For a moment the thought passed her mind that she shouldn’t lead him to wear she lived but then she realized that he probably already knew where she lived. And everything else about her too. So. Frustrating.
My CharactersShow
B-Rank MNKatō, Tsubaki #DC143C #C82848
Sp. Jounin • Kirigakure no Sato • Araki Kiyo #DDA0DD
Akibushi • Heart Empire • Kimura, Misaki
Genin • Iwagakure no Sato • Kazuma #00BF80

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