Who is watching now?

[Willoria]

Minako had spent the better part of the last few days in the forest of Konoha. It had been her first real excursion since her brother's death and her return to duty since her promotion and her own near death experience. She was finally feeling better and the time on her own left her feeling much more like herself. Slung over her shoulder she had a good sized roll of furs and hides she had tanned over the last few days and rolled up together from her hunts. She had a few more draped over Rei's back as the pair walked together back into the village. Her bow and quiver of arrows she kept in her left hand.

Her hair made a light tinkling sound in the wind due to the bones and stones she had woven into it, all in braids and cornrows. She looked a bit dirty, but that was normal for her. She felt far more in her element and far more relaxed than she had for a long time. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of the air as she walked the street into the village and into the clan compound once more. She could hear the barking of other dogs, smirking as she looked over at the five foot tall beast of darkness that walked beside her. Rei's ears perked up but she didn't run off, she stayed beside Minako the entire walk. She didn't mind the weight of the furs on her back at all it seemed, following her up the front stairs and into the home the pair still lived in with Minako's parents.

Both walked past the first empty bedroom and its closed door. It had been Minaru's, Minako's twin's room. Minako touched the doorway briefly as she passed, and Rei paused long enough to touch it with a nose before the pair moved on to the next room which was Minako's. The room was large and built differently than a normal bedroom.

It was an incredibly large space, the ceiling high enough that it essentially had a second floor, a loft that served as her bedroom of sorts. The lower area had it's own kitchen with a handful of cabinets, about 3 lowers and 3 uppers with a countertop between them, a stove and a fridge as well. There was a small table that could seat three comfortably. There was a couch and a desk. Rei shook in the middle of the lower room, causing Minako to groan as she heard the furs that had been on her back hit the floor and Rei scampered off to the edge of the room and up a set of stairs to the upper loft area to flop onto the bed upstairs. Minako herself set her furs on the dining room table along with her bow and arrows before retrieving the others to put with them, cursing under her breath as she did so.

[TheLacarix]

Tenshi, A.K.Ae Aizawa, Nobu the assistant and brother of Aizawa Yoru, Bannin of the Leaf and Commander of the Anbu.
Tenshi was dressed in the traditional ANBU garb. Donning a grey flak jacket on, dark grey trousers and matching sandals. This was finished with a white mask that was fitted perfectly to his face. He was already at the home of the woman known as Minako, she was in the forest around Konoha or at least she had being last time Tenshi had caught sight of her.

He slowly walked through the grounds of her home and directly towards the front door, he didn’t see much point wasting any time and there didn’t seem to be anyone around. Slipping out a senbon from his pouch, he gently placed it in the lock of the door being careful not to leave any marks or damage. He wiggled it around for a few moments, lifting up the pins of the internal mechanism until he heard a click and the door gently opened.

The young man knew he had to be quick, Inuzuka’s had fantastic sense of smell and their shinobi dogs even more so, he didn’t want them to linger on to his scent for too long and find him. Once he was in the home, he closed the door behind him and it instantly locked. He moved through the empty home and towards the kitchen, a small table with three seats around it was just in front of him. He walked over to the table and gently placed it on the middle of the table.

On the envelope was the Anbu symbol stamped on the front of it and inside a simple set of coordinates. Tenshi’s ears perked up as he heard the front door click again, he hadn’t expected her to arrive so soon. If Yoru found out that he was caught in the act he wouldn’t be happy, the mystery of the ANBU was an important factor and Nobu didn’t like to displease his commander.

He moved towards the window in the kitchen, slipped it open and dived through the window running through the grounds and away from the home as quickly as possible, hoping that if he got far away enough, they’d lose his scent. If he felt they were taking chase he’d have to find a source of water to run through.

It was likely soon she’d find the letter and if she did decide to follow it, Yoru would be awaiting her.

[Willoria]

Minako looked around a moment, realizing that Rei had already taken off for the bed and rolled her eyes. She put the furs away before going back to the table to put her weapons away before pausing when she finally saw the letter. A puzzled look crossed her face as she looked down at it. She'd been so focused on getting settled back into her room after her weekend in the forest that she hadn't noticed anything amiss. She whistled as she picked it up and looked at the symbol on it first.

At the whistle, Rei came running back down and stood beside her, tilting her head to wait for whatever command Minako had for her.

"Rei, take a sniff around, someone's been here." Minako told her simply as she opened the letter. Given the symbol on it she wasn't really expecting Rei to find much, but she still wanted the dog to give it a shot as she looked it over. The coordinates caused her to make a face. Unsure what to expect she picked up her weapons again and, instead of putting things away, she equipped herself properly. "Alright, too early to settle back in, Rei, seems we have things to do still." she said simply as she set out towards the coordinates, curious to see what or who she was going to find.

[TheLacarix]

If Rei followed the coordinates exactly, she’d find herself in the depths of the woods. Sun squeezing through the gaps of the trees, splashing golden lights across the grassy ground below. A few meters along, what seemed a naturally made pathway was a large stone tunnel with a metal gate that was this time left unlock, it would usually have a fuuin placed on it for anyone who may accidently stumble across it but this time the Inuzuka would be able to freely walk in.

If she decided to enter, she’d see a long dark tunnel softly lit by torches. The tunnel would be long and complex, but the Anbu commander was confident in her abilities to make it through and find him.

---

A figure stood in the middle of a large hallway, it was a connection of bridges with red fencing that hung high over a deep pit that never seemed to head. The figure was ill lit, his features almost indistinguishable, only a thin layer of light hit across the right side of his face, his skin porcelain white, freckles plastered gently across it.

Heavy breathing could be heard, as Tenshi dropped from the ceiling below landing on the ground with a soft thud “She’ll be here soon.” He gasped out beneath his mask, Yoru simply nodded and Tenshi stood by his side as the pair awaited their guest.

[Willoria]

Something didn't feel right in her own home. Lingering smells were traces, not enough to quite go off of. Whoever was there hadn't been there quite long enough to leave a lasting scent it seemed and that actually bugged Minako. She stared at the letter for several minutes after she'd already retrieved her gear. She was ready to go, and so was Rei, but it all felt amiss. Eventually curiosity got the best of her, leaving the young woman feeling like a damn cat as she slipped out of her own home to follow the coordinates.

Every step felt like a trap. The path was easy, the unlocked gate seemed too easy. The stone tunnel was complex, sure, but a lack of traps left the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. She and Rei kept to the faint scents to follow. Like all tunnels it was damp, still keeping the faint scent barely there, but thankfully Rei's sense of smell was better than Minako's and the woman was able to follow her dog through. More than once though she thought she caught a sound, a foot step, or a heavy breath. She wasn't quite certain, but eventually she came to her destination.

Brow furrowed she stared at the figure in the shadows, keeping her own fair distance. "What's going on here?" she asked after a moment's pause, fingers twitching as she was tempted to reach for weapons, yet still unsure if she had just walked into a trap, or a test... or both.

[TheLacarix]

Out of the shadows, slowly stepped out the man known as Aizawa, Yoru the light cascading just over half of his face as his single hazel eye glistened brightly and his skin looked even whiter in comparison to the dark shadows that covered the other half of his body.

“Hello Minako.” The voice rang out softly and bounced off the high ceilings, in a sing song like fashion. He said very little else as he stepped out of the shadows, the clip clopping of each footstep could be heard as edged closer and closer in the silence.

“I am Aizawa, Yoru.” He extended out his right hand for her to shake, which was wrapped entirely in bandaged “Do you know why I’ve brought you here?” He asked, pondering what her response would be it was apparent they were the ANBU his guard donned the uniform, and the envelope had the Konoha mark pressed on it.

[Willoria]

Cautiously, Minako reached out and took the offered hand to shake. Her eyes drifted to the guard and his uniform, looking him up and down and back to Yoru as he asked his question. Her nose twitched again, as if for a brief second she might have caught a scent yet also dismissed it. She sighed, breathing out of her nose as she did so and looked at the man before her. "I have a hunch." she remarked idly, tilting her head slightly to the side as she looked at him.

It was almost as if she were evaluating him, though a sliver of anger showed under the surface. "Is this going to be some speech about what I can do for the village? How valuable I am, or some skills I supposedly have? In reality you're just looking at what uses I can have before being discarded... as if my brother's death didn't make clear how disposable we shinobi are already? You reach out with a literal symbol of how disposable we are and want to slap it on me like its some badge of honor?"

The woman chuckled, smirking slightly. "Why not? It'd go great with my scar."

[TheLacarix]

Dust almost glistened in the air as the narrow rays of light slashed through the darkness, the man known as Aizawa, Yoru stood almost perfectly between those slashes of light listening to the woman speak.

He tilted his head at her remarks, his gaze followed her lips and took in every word and once she finished, he let the silence sit there for a moment “Yes, it is a shame about your brother you two as a team would been very useful, I can’t pretend to understand what you’ve gone through I have never lost a family member to wages of war.” His land lifted gently in the air as he turned gently on his heel and turned around gesturing for her to follow him towards his office “You are correct with your statement young Minako, shinobi are disposable, but you are wrong about the symbol of the ANBU there is no honour in this organisation.” His voice sounded firm yet honest.

Assuming she followed, Yoru would nod at his guard that he was dismissed and with that the young anbu would disappear into the darkness and the pair would walk down the corridor “We simply do what must be done, kill who must be killed and destroy what must be destroyed.” He stopped for a moment and looked over at his shoulder “But I can assure you, we would all die for our village and for this organisation but none of us are disposable.”

[Willoria]

Minako crossed her arms under her chest, a growl building as he mentioned her brother. She wanted to go off on him, to lose her cool entirely. With her arms still crossed, her fingers dug into her own arms, nails into skin as she thought over the man's words. 'Losing family to the wages of war... that's a pretty way to say it. Makes it sound like I was sitting at home and got a visit or a letter with news... not at all what happened. No that isn't what happened, I held his broken body and tried to drag him home with me. We dragged our broken bodies back with pieces of ourselves hanging out. I was beside him when he died, when I thought I died. I thought we died together, but I woke up again, just he didn't.' Her thoughts ran a mile a minute, but she tried to keep them that way.

She forced herself to focus on Yoru's words, the only thing he said that surprised her was his honesty. She stayed with Yoru as his guard left and nodded as he spoke. "Its hard not to feel disposable after what happened." she said quietly. "We were doing a small time mission, completely left behind when Kiri came in and just ran us over." Minako sighed and looked at Yoru a moment. "I want to make sure that doesn't happen to someone else... whatever it takes."

[TheLacarix]

If Yoru wanted to, he could of read Minako’s mind and heard her thoughts by simply placing ‘Emperor Nintoku's Crown’ upon his head but he needn’t need that to see she was angered by his comments. Hearing her growl rumble from her and her own hands tighten around her arms. It was no concern of his if she was upset by his comments, it was no issue to have these emotions and it was perfectly fine to be upset in that situation but it’s what was done with those emotions that was key, she was wise not to vent her anger and keep it within herself. Perhaps she was ideal for Anbu? Yoru certainly hoped so.

The pair came to a simple wooden door, Yoru would place his hand upon the doorway as a fuuin appeared, glowing a greenish hue as it slowly trickle away like paint being wiped off a wall, or a door in this case. Once the fuuin was reversed, Yoru’s hand pushed gently against the door and opened it.

The smell of spider lilies would faintly hang in the air, there was a desk in the middle of the room, simple and made of wood with papers neatly stacked on the table and basic writing equipment next to it. A set of wooden chairs either side and Iin the corner of the room was a mannequin, with Yoru’s Anbu uniform and his white mask placed upon it, and to the far right a wooden set of drawers, upon it a hand made of marble with a golden ring with a red gem upon it, a red windmill shuriken, a necklace with a blue coloured ring gifted to him by Takeo year’s ago and finally a glass jar with what appeared to be an eyeball floating in it.

“Please take a seat.” He gestured to the chair as he moved around the back of the desk and pulled out the chair and sat upon it “As I’m sure you’ve figured out, this is the headquarters of ANBU: Black Ops and I am Commander Aizawa, Yoru.” He pondered if she’d head of him, he was a notable character in the village and was a known criminal, imprisoned for treason and attempted murder of the hokage and now he was sat in front of her, as one of the highest officials of the same village he betrayed “What do you know of the Anbu and what do you know of me?” he asked, the Anbu were one of the worst kept secrets, they had a certain presence and were often seen in the village in an official capacity usually as guards.

[Willoria]

Minako watched in silence as the fuuin melted away under Yoru's touch and the smell of flowers hit the air. Her nose twitched at the scent, as did her neck and head. She couldn't help it. She'd always loved the smell of flowers and the sudden scent was a distraction to the violence in her thoughts. Her nose twitched of its own accord not unlike a dog's distracted from a scented trail for a brief moment. In spite of the smells she followed Yoru to the desk and took a seat where indicated, her eyes flitting about to the various oddities in the room. It was both fascinating and oddly creepy, especially the floating eyeball. He questioned her and it took a moment for her to even register the question as she stared at the bobbing eye. "Huh?"

She had to blink a few times to tear her gaze away from it and look at the man properly again. "I know ANBU is both a secret and a notorious organization, perhaps a military oxymoron as often joked about as military intelligence." she quipped, smirking a bit before a frown overtook her lips as she looked at him a moment. "And obviously everyone knows you were supposed to be a criminal who betrayed the Hokage and his best friend... but that's either a lie or been forgiven or.... something." She blinked a few more times as she tried to understand what she was both hearing and seeing.

Her nose twitched again. "And I'd swear you were in my house but the scent isn't quite the same. Similar, but not the same." Rei huffed beside her, refusing to sit down and instead remained standing on all fours.

[TheLacarix]

A smirk ran across his face as the young woman seemed distracted by the eyeball floating in the jar, it bubbled lightly as though it was aware it has been watched, this was of course a coincidence. If she looked at it closely, she’d see it was greyed out and had a gash straight down the middle of it. His pale fingers wrapped against his eyepatch, “It’s a bit of a memento.” He said through a grin, though the grin soon washed away, his stern serious demeanour quickly took over.

He listened to her talk, he wasn’t overly interested in what the rumours were about him but he wanted to know she understood who he was, the kind of person he was and if she’d be willing to work under someone like she’d described. Once she finished, he slowly stood up from his desk and moved towards the cabinet, slowly opening the door “Just to be clear, the Hokage betrayed me first.” He tone sounded honest and truthful “Though unbeknownst to him, but that is neither here nor there.” The clinking of glass could be heard as he balanced a bottle of whiskey and two tumblers, placing one glass in front of the young woman and one in front of his chair, pulling off the cap he poured two fingers in each glass and smiled as she noted the scent “You’re sense of smell is very keen, I was not in your home no.” he couldn’t reveal his younger brother had being there, least not yet she hadn’t accepted a position in ANBU, nor had he offered one yet.

“It seems you have a clear understand of what ANBU is and who I am, I did betray the Hokage and I did desert my village, for fear of my own life, I was a coward but as you may know I served my time and received a pardon for my actions in The Great War.” It was obvious by his tone that he had distain for the war and the actions taken by all parties, an unnecessary war as countries grabbed for power and land, something he found disgusting “Know that I committed such heinous crimes, do you think you could serve under me? It’s not a decision to take lightly, as the commander I expect the upmost respect of my commands if I asked you to travel to Kiri and assassinate the Mizukage I’d expect you to nod and leave immediately, if I told you to kill the Hokage I would expect the same and so would Lord Seventeen, I’d even expect you as a group to kill me if you thought I had fallen and began to make poor decisions.” He pulled the cork of the bottle, as liquid poured out into the glass as though it was a poison chalice, almost daring her to take it and join him as a member of the ANBU.

Before she decided he chuckled softly, his eye closed “Of course, this is all hypothetical and I don’t expect those situations ever to come up.” As he poured himself a glass of the whiskey, placed on the cork and picked up his glass offering for her to clink glass “To Konoha.”

[Willoria]

As Yoru remarked about the eye being a memento of sorts, Minako couldn't help sticking her tongue out slightly and making a face, clearly grossed out a bit by the implication. She couldn't imagine losing an eye and then choosing to keep it floating in a jar nearby in her own office space. That just seemed so strange to her, and, well, disgusting. She shuddered a bit, and quickly tried to pull her eyes away to pay better attention to Yoru and try to focus on what else he had to say. He seemed intent on setting the record straight on who he was, though whether it was from a desire to speak truth or ease his ego she couldn't be certain. She didn't know the man on a personal level after all. She simply nodded as he explained a touch more of the history between himself and the Hokage, and nodded again as he confirmed what her nose had already told her, or at least that she wasn't far off the mark.

She listened as he went on and explained how he got his position, or at least his pardon, and what he would expect of her if she were to join. She stood from the chair and stepped closer to the desk as he seemed to offer her a drink though she was almost obviously cautious enough not to stand directly over the glass. Even as she took it and looked at its contents she did not allow it to be under her nose at any point. She knew if she got a direct whiff of it she'd gag instinctively. Her sense of smell was too good for that, and it would be rather embarrassing if she gagged, or worse, in front of Yoru in this moment. She could drink it, she knew that, but she just couldn't smell it. It was like asking a cat to smell a stinky cheese. Funny for everyone but the cat.

She thought in silence for a moment and looked at the amber liquid in the glass, watching the way it glinted in the little light and danced as she swirled it a bit, and even heard a light whimper from Rei as the dog seemed to question her. The only answer she offered to Yoru's statements was to finally lift the glass to clink with his. "To Konoha then." she said, before downing the contents quickly, and with a shudder and a light cough.