The Scars of Tomorrow

[Amy]

A not entirely unhappy sigh blew past Nori’s lips as she slipped into the bar. Her hair was up, her body wrapped in a plain black and red kimono. She had gotten back to the village earlier that afternoon and sleep wasn’t coming easy that night, not entirely unusual but frustrating all the same. A drink and people watching was usually all of the medication she needed to feel comfortable at home again. Sinking into a corner booth with her knee to her chest, Nori let her eyes drift over the customers of the night. A few regulars who smiled in her direction and a few people who looked like they needed a drink worse than she did.

A slightly more unhappy sigh fell from her lips as she realized how uninteresting the crowd was that night. That would make the medicinal properties of the alcohol basically useless. Taking a deep breath, Nori let it all out at once and let her chin fall on her knee, her cheeks puffed out in frustration. Why were people outside of the village so much more interesting? Way more lively, that was for sure. That wasn’t even a requirement but it would at least be something. Two drinks in and Nori was gearing herself up to leave and try the whole re-acclimation thing again when the door to the bar opened slowly.

Settling back against the corner, Nori watching the newcomer with peaked interest. He was tall and stoic and that was about all she could gather from a first impression. And that instantly made him interesting. Downing the rest of her glass, Nori slid out of the booth, her feet light underneath her. Fingertips curled around the lip of her glass, Nori slid them along the rim when she set the glass down on the bar.

“I’ll take another. And put whatever he wants on my tab too.”

Nori glanced up and smiled at the man, her eyes wide and squinted just a little as though she were on the verge of laughing. A quick shake of her head, lips parting slightly as the smile turned to a smirk, Nori set her gaze back forward as she settled into the chair next to the newcomer.

“You can get the next one.”

[Niro]

Kinomichi's entire body ached as he walked down one of the many dimly lit alleys found within the village. His day had consisted of helping the Jousai in their endeavors of keeping the Catacombs and its various creepy-crawlies secured far away from the general populace.

Fighting giant rats and spiders all day was nightmare material that he wasn't expecting when his clan acquiesced to Iwa's demands of surrender. Now? His duty for the day was over and he was free to do as he pleased, which included indulging in copious amounts of alcohol at this hole-in-the-wall bar. Michi almost had to duck because of his height and hair as he walked through the doorway, his usual unreadable expression painted on his face as his eyes danced across the room in an attempt to find somewhere comfortable and where he would have the bartender's attention no matter what.

Finally finding a pair of chairs left vacant at the corner of the bar, Michi slid into the chair with his order already falling from his lips before he was interrupted by a dark-haired honey eyed beauty. His cold lime green, bar-shaped eyes caught hers for a moment as if to ask permission before finishing his order.

"Two shots of Kiri vodka and a Rock country beer." Michi grunted out as he nodded to the open seat at the bar as she too slid into it with practiced ease. The space between them was nearly nonexistent and Michi was wondering why he didn't bring his gunbai.

"Next one?" Michi scoffed as the bartender placed his drinks down and nearly instantly the two shots were gone in the glasses off to the side, only the beer mug remaining. "I hope you can keep up, hon."

[Amy]

“Luckily, drinking is a practiced art and I have a lot of hours under my belt,” Nori said, glancing at the newcomer out of the corner of her eye.

Waiting in the bar was already worth it, her interest plenty peaked. It wasn’t even just his odd green eyes. The thing was, Nori didn’t even know why he was interesting yet. Troubled past? Deep personal struggles? Crippling worries? Finding out, that was the fun part. Some people came off as boring from the get go. They were normal, or at least too normal. But there were some people who had an air about them, like a touch of electricity. It was something that she had always been drawn to. The real question was, what sort of spark was he looking for?

“If you're worried your wallets not deep enough I can cover your share. I’d hate to steal your lunch money after you were kind enough to walk in here.”

This was why Nori went to bars to relax. The alcohol was nice but the encounters with people were what made her refreshed, what engaged her mind. What got her blood racing. How much could she learn without asking? He didn’t seem very talkative, not overly friendly but not mean either. Not even cold exactly, he seemed willing to chat but Nori thought she probably shouldn’t be too over the top with him. He had already turned the drinking into a challenge so that was a good sign. Maybe he would loosen up with another drink or two.

Turning her chair slightly out, Nori worked to create a bubble around them, cutting off their interactions from the rest of the bar. Not necessarily to keep him interested but rather to keep everyone else out.

“I’d ask if you come here often but I know for a fact you don’t or else I would have seen you before. What brings you to this part of the village?”

Keeping eye contact, Nori lifted her drink to her lips, smiling around the rim before downing the entire glass at once. Setting it down with just enough force to make a point.

[Niro]

'Here I was thinking I'd get shitfaced and pass out in peace tonight. Women...' Michi complained internally, resisting the almost overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. It seemed that after a long day of hunting, the predator had become the prey.

Michi snickered as he brought the mug of beer to his lips and took a deep drink from it before placing it back on the bar. Did she really think he wouldnt come with the necessary funds to party? He caught the eyes of the bartender and with a nod two more shots and another drink the girl was handling was placed in front of the pair. Michi had a feeling he'd be leaving the bartender a fat tip by the end of the night.

"Not worried about the bill at all. Fighting and stripping those gross bastards of any useful raw materials pays plenty well enough." He half-explained, not wanting to spend too much of his relaxation time focused on explaining his daily work. "Came here to get shitfaced, plain and simple. How about you, doll?"

[Amy]

Well, that sounded plenty interesting though he didn’t seem like he was going to offer a more elaborate explanation unless she asked. The challenge of getting him to open up more would have usually been a little more fun but tonight she was honestly a little exasperated already. Downing her drink she considered leaving the man alone and let him get shitfaced in peace. But she just couldn’t bring herself to give up, not yet. She was as desperate to find someone to engage with as he was to stay alone.

Downing first her drink then stealing one of his shots, Nori didn’t even have to call the bartender over. But this time when he went to fill the shots she placed her hand gently on his wrist.

“Don’t suppose you could just leave that here?”

The bartender only shook his head before setting the vodka back on the bar in front of them. He was well aware of how Nori could be when she got back from a mission. He had been a little concerned about how much restraint she was showing before she moved to the bar top.

“Sounds like your job might pay even better than mine. If that’s the case maybe we’ll just have to flip a coin to see who picks up the tab.”

Pouring herself another shot that could have almost counted as a double, Nori briefly considered why she was there. For fun, sure. Also the alcohol. She didn’t think he was looking for a much deeper answer than that.

“Same reason you are, handsome,” she finally replied, grinning towards the end. She could use pet names too. “Get shitfaced, find some interesting people to talk to. I just got back into town and have the next couple of days off. Can’t think of a better way to spend them. Sounds like you could use a couple days off yourself.”

Nori filled his glass again, being more than generous with the pour.

[Niro]

The shot glass he had been eyeing, and which had recently been filled, was quickly the victim of a double homicide as both her own drink and his shot were quickly consumed. Michi watched the woman's throat as the liquid slid down it before his odd eyes locked on to hers. He looked at her through squinted eyes and pursed lip for a moment before he allowed his eyes to wander the rest of her figure.

It wasn't hard to figure out that this woman was astonishingly attractive. He still didn't understand why she had chosen him but at this point his slightly buzzed mind didn't care. Michi nearly scoffed at her comment about the tab. It definitely seemed like someone was picking up someone else instead of a tab right now.

He nearly scoffed again for the second time in under 10 seconds at the mention of meeting interesting people. The Uchiha raised the nearly full glass to his lips and drank deep. Michi caught on to her mention of being away from the village for a while which piqued his now-influenced interest.

"Outside of the Village, huh? Most of my work keeps me inside. Hard to relax when when your home is also your workplace." Michi lamented as he finished the drink she had poured him when using the last of the beer to chase its taste away after. "What do you do outside the village?"

[Amy]

Nori smirked to herself and followed the slight tilt of his head as his eyes finally took a trip down the curves of her body. It seemed that either the alcohol or her charming personality were loosening him up a bit and making him just a touch more friendly. Or maybe just a touch more interested. In either case he seemed less annoyed that his lonely night had been interrupted. Stretching with a slight arch of her back, Nori lifted her left foot and balanced it on the middle rung of his bar stool, her kimono sliding off to the side of her knee. Dancing her fingers along the bar top Nori thought of what lie to go with tonight. What did she do outside of the village?

“I do a bit of anything and everything but a lot of it revolves around very boring diplomatic meetings. For some reason, people are usually willing to listen to what I have to say. It does mean I get to see a lot of the country though and sometimes they even let me take a plus one.”

Winking and laughing slightly, Nori took another drink. That was her typical answer. To say she worked with diplomats wasn’t even technically a lie. And people usually didn’t ask her more questions about her work when she made it sound so boring.

“For how boring my work is though, yours sounds much more exciting if not horribly disgusting. I believe your words earlier were ‘fighting and stripping.’ Since we’re both being so upfront and forthcoming I think it’s only fair if you also share what you do. Maybe we can teach each other a new thing or two.”

Nori was always up for learning new techniques.

[Niro]

Michi's eyes never left her. They followed when she stretched, his lime colored orbs flashing to her chest for a moment before switching their view to the slender, dainty foot she rested on his stool. Any semblance of personal space between the two was destroyed by the action as her kimono shifted and his eyes found her light tanned thigh too much to resist sneaking a glance before his attention shifted once more. This time his attention found the vodka bottle and Michi topped off the empty shot glasses while motioning for a refill on his nearly empty beer mug. He did so while listening to her talk about her job, finding out that what she told him basically amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of figuring out what it was exactly she did.

"I got a feeling it's a bit more than just boring diplomacy missions. If you'd rather not share? Whatever." Kinomichi shrugged before slamming one of the shots back. "I kill shit. People, monsters. Doesn't matter when they're on the other side." His eyes took on a more somber look as he reflected on just what he did for the village.

"Majority of my missions nowadays are down in the catacombs. Plenty of shit to kill and strip down there." Michi explained to the beautiful stranger sitting beside him. He snorted before taking a drink from his refilled beer mug. "And just what exactly do you think you could teach me?" He asked, his smile cocky and overall demeanor not believing her when she said so.

[Amy]

Biting back a full-blown laugh, Nori thought that maybe he was a bit more annoyed than he wanted to let on that she wouldn’t share what she did for work. It wasn’t something that was technically a secret, at least not from other Shinobi. But discretion in her line of work was very valuable. Not to mention that people weren’t always understanding of what she did. She wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of what she did for the village but it was unrealistic to pretend it didn’t affect her life at all. Though, of all the people she had met recently he might actually be one who wouldn’t care.

Despite the stark differences, his job didn’t sound all that different than hers. The biggest difference was that she stripped her prey before she killed it rather than after. If he was hoping to shock her with his bluntness he was going to be disappointed.

Taking the shot with her left hand, Nori reached out and straightened the front of his shirt, her fingers brushing over the bandages underneath.

“Well, I won’t try to pretend I could teach you anything about combat, I know when to accept defeat. But, I’ve learned quite a lot in my travels. Diplomacy as a woman isn’t all about board meetings and paperwork. Sometimes, it’s about figuring out how to have the upper hand, getting information that might not always be readily available. And sometimes it takes special...skills, to get what you need.”

Nori let her hand run down the edge of Michi’s shirt until her hand landed on his knee.

“For instance, I know how to tie a couple hundred different knots from all over the world. I can cook a five course meal that could be served at the finest of restaurants to the biggest wallets you could find. I know several different massage styles, men love a good hot stone massage. I can even dance.”

Sliding her hand off his knee Nori lifted her right knee straight up before extending her leg slightly, draping it over her left that was still perched on his stool. Her hand caught her cheek, a smile playing along her lips, her eyes looking directly into his so oddly, interestingly shaped ones.

“Though maybe all that isn’t as impressive when compared to your stripping and killing skills.”

[Niro]

Although the beer mug in his hand was important to his goal tonight, Michi was finding the woman in front of him to be twice as enthralling. If he wasn't careful, she'd have him wrapped around her pinky finger like those diplomats she had mentioned working over. Another shot disappeared down her gullet while her freehand messed with his shirt and brushed against his bandages. The ruby red scales underneath could barely be felt unless one knew what they were looking for so Michi was unbothered. Plus, if she was a Shinobi as he expected, a little strange shouldn't be so foreign.

Kinomichi was expecting to hear... something else than what she had shared. Well, until she got down to listing a hot stone massage in and dance. For hand trail from the bandages covering his chest to his knee and then back to her. Nori raised one leg over the other before looking him once again in the eyes. It was there and then he decided he will play the fool, if only for a bit.

"I could really use a hot stone massage but I'm not sure about dancing. I've got two left feet." Michi shrugged as he raised the mug once again to his lips for a drink. "I'm not sure which of us would be better, shame we can't have a race." He knew what he was suggesting even if the look on his face betrayed his actual thoughts.

[Amy]

A slight blush rosied Nori’s cheekbones, the only telltale sign that she had been drinking a considerable amount. Most of the men she drank with would have been embarrassingly sloppy by now, but not this one. He was just as composed as she was and she was impressed. It wasn’t often she met someone who was as talented at holding their liquor as she was. Everything about this man was a refreshing breath of fresh air. He hadn’t laid his hands on her, he hadn’t suggested they cut their fun short to go fuck, he hadn’t tried to impress with tall tales. She rarely got this far in her adventures. The men always ruined it.

“That’s okay," Nori laughed, shaking her head slightly. “Most of my dancing doesn’t require a partner." Not that she didn’t know how, it just wasn’t as useful.

Swinging her foot back and forth Nori was quiet for a moment, watching the man in front of her. She wondered what his purpose was in continuing to talk to her. There was the obvious option, of course, but if that was it there were a lot of women easier than she was. Women with a lot fewer hoops to jump through. Hopefully he wasn’t interested in anything more, relationships weren’t really Nori’s thing. Maybe, and it was a big maybe, she was just as interesting to him as he was to her.

Wrinkling her nose slightly, twirling her empty shot glass around and around on its edges, Nori brought herself out of her thoughts.

“A race, huh? What kind of race do you want to have, Handsome?" Her dangling foot pressed up against his leg, angled against the edge of his seat. “You wanna see who can teach the other something first? I would consider that. My place isn’t far from here. Though if you think you can teach me something about stripping you should just accept your own defeat now. Don’t forget, dancing is one of my best talents."

[Niro]

It took Michi a decent amount of alcohol before he found himself past buzzed. The ambient Katon chakra he put off burned off a large portion of the drinks intoxicating agents before it was absorbed into his bloodstream through his stomach lining. However as the two took turns pouring the vodka and getting their sipping drinks refilled even Michi began to feel a bit past buzzed.

Most nights he went out to a bar he would just drink to the point of incoherence before stumbling home and passing out on whichever piece of furniture he could easily get himself comfortable on. Surprisingly, this woman had distracted him well enough to avoid getting to the point of being a mess. Such a thing rarely, if ever, happened. Michi wasn't one to care about sharing his evenings with others but he caught himself thinking she wouldn't be so bad to spend one or a couple with.

Kinomichi's eyes followed her shot glass as she spin it round and round on its edges before her words broke his concentrated gaze on the glass piece.

"Well, foot races are...boring. So sure, you can teach me to dance and I'll teach you how to actually strip." Michi bragged through slightly slurred speech as he pulled out several ryou notes and slapped them down onto the bar top. The jounin drained his remaining beer and whatever was left in the shot glass before standing up and offering Nori his hand.

"After you."

[Amy]

Nori scoffed loudly, a practiced offended look on her face as she laid her hand into his and let him help her out of her seat. She followed slightly behind until they were out in the open air, the cold not noticeable at all between the alcohol and her arm candy. He was pleasantly warm, not entirely unnaturally so, but a little abnormal. She didn’t mind though, sliding her arm through his, her hand wrapped around the bottom of his bicep. It seemed there was definitely a reason for the bandaged he wore and she couldn’t help but wonder to herself if she’d get the chance to find out why. Trusting him to keep her balance, Nori lifted her face to the night sky with her eyes closed, appreciating the laughter and sounds of others enjoying their night. There was a peacefulness that came with the night that couldn’t be replaced with anything else.

Nori walked in silence until they got to her home, unweaving her arm from his as she pushed the door open, shutting it behind him softly, turning the lock. Her house was rather impersonal, very few personal items around. Nothing much to look at.

“Now, I’ve been thinking the whole way here what I should teach you first. You may have two left feet but I’m a pretty good teacher. You might learn a thing or two to add to your stripping routine." A coy smile sat upon Nori’s lips as she pulled two glasses down and filled them with an amber liquid, passing one to her soon to be dance partner. “I think the tango might be fun. Come here."

Setting both of their glasses down and turning on some music, Nori led him to the center of the room, manipulating his body as she talked. “Left hand goes up here, right hand here on the small of my back. When we step you bend your knees and stand up towards the end. I’ll do the hard work. Just follow me." Pulling his body tightly against hers, Nori began stepping backwards, leading him forwards. She moved her feet slowly, toes dragging the ground, so that he could keep up until he got the hang of the simple steps and then she started moving faster. Their bodies were pressed tightly together, her head resting ever so slightly on his chest.

“Not half bad for two left feet. My faith in you is building. Now, I’m going to teach you how to dip me - you don’t have to do much of anything except follow my body weight and not drop me." Coming to a stop, Nori slid her right leg up his, hooking her knee around his hip before leaning her weight back slowly until she her head was nearly touching the ground. Using his support she pulled herself up slowly, lowering her foot back to the ground. “You’re a natural."

Biting her lip gently, Nori dropped her hand from his shoulder and began walking backwards, pulling him after her, eyes locked together. Enough of that. Reaching behind her and opening the door to her bedroom, she flipped on a light switch illuminating a large four poster bed as well as a few other pieces of furniture. Never turning around, Nori backed up into a large armchair. Crossing her legs again, she raised her eyebrow slightly, amusement written all over her face.

"Your turn."