[Plotboard] Oh whereeee is my heirloom?

[Blueper]

The sun was bright, but the day was cold; Mafuyu could see her breath, floating frostily upwards to join the sparse clouds in the sky. She was dressed simply and casually for this market trip, for unlike some of her peers, she did not prefer to wear her admittedly already casual uniform all the time. On her arm swung an empty basket, soon to be full with groceries and potentially a present for her aunt, whose birthday was coming up soon.

As she marched resolutely through the swelling crowd, Mafuyu caught the scent of something that smelled absolutely delicious. Meat buns? She paused, searching for the source. Ah! There, a stall barely a few meters away. She'd buy some for a snack and some to take home, as part of dinner. Mafuyu easily slipped through the clusters of shoppers, securing herself a spot in the quickly growing queue without pause. Just when she had reached the front of the line, a man rammed straight past her, knocking her aside into the stand and shoving some elderly ladies out of the way. He had something shiny clutched in his hand, but Mafuyu had no time to do anything other than try to pick herself up out of some of the squashed meat buns and help the other victims up.

What an awful person! She apologized to the vendor, who waved her off with a frown, staring pensively after the man who had so rudely shoved the line aside.

"I wonder," he said, "where I've seen him befo-"

A wail pierced their ears, cutting off the old man. A blotchy faced woman, looking entirely disheveled, was stumbling along towards them, crying "Stop!" in a shrill voice. It was a miracle she was running as fast as she was, for although she was young and appeared quite fit, she was carrying a child of no more than three or four years old. Mafuyu, who prided herself on her ability to calm others down, led her aside, placing her basket on the bench beside her, and helped her take a few deep breaths, before asking her what had happened.

"I- I- I- I brought my grandmother's statue to the pawn shop… b-b-because… because I wanted to help pay for my wedding…. But that man, that rat bastard- he stole it. I regret ever taking it out… I'm sorry, Mom…Grandma… Please forgive me!" The woman burst into tears again, the child looking a bit horrified and confused at what was going on. Mafuyu patted his head and grabbed the woman in a side-hug in an attempt to cheer her up.

"I can go find him and get it back, if that's ok with you," Mafuyu grinned, standing up. "I might not look that strong, but I'm sure I can beat a thief and loser into repenting." The woman blew her nose into a hankerchief.

"Could you really?" the woman asked, her eyes shining with undisguised hope.

"Of course!" Mafuyu replied, grabbing her basket and beckoning for the lady to stand up as well, seeing that her tears were beginning to dry. "It shouldn't take too long. Where should I return the statue?"

After receiving the lady's address and walking her home, Mafuyu wondered where she should start. Konoha was a big city, after all, and finding one man in the middle of such a large population would be tough. She was even woefully underdressed for such an endeavor, completely in civilian clothing, but she figured she could take on a thief who resorted to simply running through the streets. Clearly that meant he didn't use chakra, for any ninja worth their salt knew that running over the rooftops was a much faster and easier way to lose a tail. Either way, Mafuyu began the trek back to the marketplace, where she hoped to investigate the scene of the crime. Best to get started as soon as possible!

[Rain21199]

Zakuro's arms were filled with giant crates of varying vegetables. A part of this year's crop. His Dad yelled from their cart, "Zakuro, you better put a few of those down, you might drop it!" The wooden stack of onions did tower a few feet over Zakuro's head, blinding him, but it would take a bit more than that to keep him from carrying these.

"Dad, for the last time, I can handle it... These wouldn't fit on the cart anyways. There's way too many of them, and with all of the other crap you have on there, there's no way. I still don't think we should've brought the sign this year. Its too damn big and gaudy as all hell."

"Gerudo Zakuro, don't talk to me that way. Try running the farm for forty years and then you can tell me what I can and can't bring to the market. I bought that sign with my money and I'm gonna damn well use it." Leaning over, Zakuro took another glance at the sign. It was a cartoonification of his father smiling, and the giant word GERUDO painted on top of it. Now, for something small that would be fine, except that the damn thing was 9 feet tall. Zakuro and his father, Yorin, were near mirror images of each other. Each one had dirty blond hair, trimmed short, except Yorin's was starting to grey on the sides, both were physically fit, both had piercing blue eyes, and both had that defined square jaw. Add 20 years to Zakuro and give him a bit of pudge in the abdomen, and you'd have Yorin.

After he got scolded, Zakuro went silent. It was better to do work and shut up than to get into an argument with father. Zakuro may be stronger than his father now that he joined the military, but his dad still intimidated him. The walked seemed to go on forever in the silence, but eventually he heard the words, "We're here" leave his dad's lips. Not a second later, he heard a scream. Zakuro set the boxes onto the ground, and looked in the direction that the commotion was coming from. The market was crowded like crazy today, the farming season was almost over, and everyone was getting whatever food they could now before it became too cold.

"Dad, I'm gonna check this out. If I'm not back soon, I guess I'm sorry." Zakuro said without a twinge of apology in his voice.

"You know, I liked it better when you worked for me full time. Not because of the labor, but I really miss spending time with you. Do what you have to, but you really need to start visiting us more. Every time I want you to do something with ya, I have to force you to come, and then you end up leaving anyways." Zakuro already started walking away. Yorin sighed, "Just be safe. I love the hell outta ya." Zakuro disappeared into the crowd. He shook his head.

Zakuro's attire for the day was red and dark blue plaid farmer's shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his biceps. The collar of the shirt was buttoned down a bit, showing off a bit of his chest. To accompany this, Zakuro wore a blue pair of pants and a brown leather belt matching the brown boots he wore. He wasn't wearing a single thing that could identify him as a shinobi. As he approached the source of the wails, he saw two girls talking. One was older, and carried a baby in her arms. Her face was puffy and tear streaks ran down her face. The other was a bit more abnormal. She looked tall and well developed, but there was still a certain sense of youth in her face. From behind, Zakuro would have easily mistaken her for a fully grown woman, but from this angle, he guessed that she was around his age, maybe a bit younger. The younger girl offered to help her find what was stolen and to walk her home as well. Zakuro, being a shinobi, was obviously more well suited for the task, but he would let this girl feel like she was doing good for awhile.

Zakuro followed the couple a ways back to her house, and watched as they finally parted ways. As soon as the woman with the child entered her house, the girl turned and walked right back towards him. She was obviously on her way back to the market to ask around and look for anything that could help her. Zakuro leaned on the fence alongside the pathway, and waited for her to walk past. Once she did, he'd causally say to her, "Need help?"

[Blueper]

The path back to the market wasn't particularly interesting, so Mafuyu instead took the chance to look around, since she'd been rather preoccupied beforehand. It was a smaller neighborhood, with dingy houses painted over in pastel shades. It was far from being a wealthy section of Konoha, so Mafuyu could see why the woman was desperate to sell her statue.

"Need help?"

Mafuyu's heart nearly flew out of her throat for a moment, but disguising any shock, she turned towards the source- a boy - man? - leaning casually against the fence. She stared for a moment, taking in his height and muscles... okay, maybe there was a little bit of ogling, but that wasn't her fault. At all. His sleeves were rolled up at they were right there!

...Maybe she should have had some better self control, but at least she was able to tear her eyes away for the moment. Goodness, how embarrassing. How had she not noticed him during her observation of the area? Was she slipping up? Could she call herself a shinobi like this? Even more pressing... was he talking to her? Mafuyu self-consciously checked the area around her, but there didn't seem to be anyone near them... Just to be sure she pointed at herself questioningly.

"Um... are you talking to me?"

[Rain21199]

She turned when she heard him. It was apparent that she checked him out, but he ignored it. It did put a smile on his face though. He stood up straight and said in a soft tone, "Of course I'm talking to you, there's nobody else here. I can help you track it down if you want." Of course, whether or not she agreed, Zakuro would come with anyways. It would take him a lot less time to find it than a civilian, and there might be some conflict with the cut purse as well, which Zakuro knew he could more than handle. The Chuunin took a few steps forward, so that he was standing next to the girl, ready to walk back to the market.

[Blueper]

As the man approached her, Mafuyu smiled, a bit uncertain. Track it down? Oh... he must have seen the whole debacle and overheard her with the woman. Well, any help was better than none, although if any conflict occurred, she would have to get a civilian out of the way and deal with it herself. It seemed a bit troublesome, but looking at the man again...

...He could probably lift the thief over his head and throw him without breaking a sweat. Never mind. Still, there was always the potential for combat, and it didn't matter how much muscle you had if you didn't know how to use it in battle. Whatever.

"I'd be glad to have you along! I was thinking of returning to the market first and investigating the area for clues or other witnesses."

Mafuyu started walking again, this time at a slightly slower pace. "Or perhaps maybe visiting the pawn shop? I know there's one down that way," she pointed towards a street.

"Oh, and my name is Mafuyu. Okumura Mafuyu." She smiled back towards the man again. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[Rain21199]

Zakuro enjoyed the company. He could've probably taken the assailant down by now, but going solo just got so damn boring after a while. Zakuro was a notorious loner, but he did need to mix things up every once and a while. Still, in the event that a fight did break out he'd have to tell Mafuyu to run or hide. There's no way he could let her get hurt. No, he was going to make this a fun adventure to spruce up her otherwise dull life as a citizen of Konohagakure. Seeing how his parents live, Zakuro didn't understand how they could do the same shit every day. It was torture working for them on his spare time. He loved his family, but they lived such drab and boring lives. Deciding to join the academy was the smartest decision of his life.

Zakuro liked the way she thought. Most people would see a robbery and think that whoever stole the item held on to it. The vast majority never thought of the next step. Selling the item. "We could check out the pawn shop, but seeing how the item was freshly stolen, either whoever stole it is going to wait some time before selling to a shop like the one nearby, they're going to sell it to a pawn shop a ways away from the incident or they have a fence that's willing to take it off their hands. In the event this guy doesn't know what they're doing, it could very well be at the nearest shop, so I'd say it's worth a look." He gave her a slight smile and led the way to the shop. Zakuro never wandered over to this section of the village since it's all just residential, but he memorized the entire layout of the Konoha in case of another attack. It was something that became very useful from time to time, just like now.

[Blueper]

Mafuyu slowed down a little, confused.

"Why would the thief try to sell what he stole at the scene of the crime?" Was she missing something here? It was true that the culprit would probably either hand the item off to a middleman or another pawn shop, but... Ohhh. He probably didn't realize that the item had been stolen at the pawn shop.

"I originally mean to question the pawn shop owner, since I believe he's a witness to the crime itself," Mafuyu explained. Now she felt a little dumb. Instead of thinking about possible moves the thief would make, she had been stuck on past events, or her lack of knowledge about those events. Wasn't one of the most important rules of engagement to outthink your adversary? Then again, Mafuyu reasoned, how could one read the enemy's moves without understanding previous actions? Each move begat another, each event influenced the next.

Mafuyu silently followed after Zakuro, thinking hard, and before she knew it, they had arrived at their destination. Surprisingly, Zakuro seemed to know which way to go. As they entered the pawn shop, a bell tinkled, informing anyone in the rather dusty, messy old building that they were there.

The door creaked shut behind them, but no one appeared. Stepping forward, Mafuyu peered around a huge stack of books and scrolls. Was there anyone in here at all?

"I don't know where the owner could be in all this... clutter," Mafuyu said, wincing. Clutter was a bit of an understatement. She wondered if anyone had ever gotten lost in the towering stacks of junk and never come out again. "I guess we should just... search?"

[Rain21199]

Zakuro stayed silent and let her think. It wasn't until they reached the pawn shop that the silence was actually broken.

"What the?" All around them sat piles of old junk and new appliances alike. Whoever's shop this was needed to organize. "Hello?" Zakuro headed towards the back of the shop, looking for any sign of the owner. "HELLO?"

The head of a short, decrepit old man shot up from a pile of old books. He looked older than most of the junk in the building. Was this the owner? "Is this your store? We'd like to ask you a few questions about a robbery that happened recently." Zakuro gestured to his companion. "Mafuyu, go ahead."

[Blueper]

Mafuyu felt a little put on the spot by Zakuro, but mustered up her most polite face and tone, hoping to get some information as quickly as possible. The old man hadn't shown any particular reaction yet, face remaining rather neutral. She tried to remember if there was any particular methodology to investigate using interviews learned in the academy, but ended up winging it. If there had been anything learned about it, she'd long forgotten it

"As my... companion stated, there was a robbery that happened an hour ago, at most. The victim, a young woman with a child, mentioned that it was at this pawn shop, and that a young man stole a precious heirloom, a statue. Did you happen to witness any of it? Any information could help us."

The old man nodded and hummed to himself... and nodded some more... before shaking his head.

"No. I was reading a book." He didn't say anything else.

Mafuyu was a little taken aback. Somehow she'd been under the impression that any witnesses would be jumping to help. Even if he hadn't seen anything, surely he'd heard the screaming from the woman?

[Rain21199]

Zakuro then approached the man and leaned down until they were eye to eye. Obviously this person didn't like being bothered, but that could easily be used to their advantage. Placing his hand on the older fellow's shoulder. Zakuro gave him a soft smile. "You see, you're our only lead, and without any information from you, well, there's really no hurry to leave here anytime soon. You can't chase a criminal if you don't have a trail to follow after all. Now, you can either have us in your hair all day and finally tell us what you saw after you're sick to death of our company or you can tell us now and we'll be on our way. I'm not leaving until I get what I want regardless."

Zakuro made sure to not break eye contact once. His smile faded and was now nothing but a hard grimace. Truth be told, he'd rather try and find another witness than wait here for a stubborn guy like this to tell them what they need, but hopefully he didn't call Zakuro's bluff.

An obvious frown formed on the man's face. He didn't seem to enjoy Zakuro's threat one bit, and after a few seconds, he began talking.

"Fine! I was in the back when I heard a large bang. Someone knocked over one of our tables and all the chairs stacked on top, the bastard. I only caught a glimpse of him, thin but tall, long black hair, and a tattoo of a dragon on his arm. That's all. Now leave me alone." He turned away from Zakuro while the chuunin stood up straight. "Should've never sent those girls home for the day. Not worth the hassle."

Zakuro started walking towards the door, expecting Mafuyu to follow. He stopped before walking out the door. "Thanks for your time." Walking out of the building, Zakuro looked around, wondering where to next. The description will definitely help, and the fact that he's tattooed gave them a huge advantage. From the outside of the shop there were only two direct ways to go. One led to the outskirts of the village, the other led to the center of town. 'If I was a robber looking to hid, I would feel more safe in a less populated area.'

Luckily enough, there were a lot of vendors still around who have been there all day. There's a good chance someone would have seen him. "Mafuyu, let's go question the people at the farmer's market. I have a feeling he ran right through there, or at least nearby. There's only a handful of spots he could've ran to and that's one of them."