[Karamatta Risuki]

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Katsue Meeting MISSION RANK: D NPC REQUIRED: Optional RANDOM MISSION SCENARIO: Disabled PARTICIPANTS: Open DESCRIPTION: Breeders from the Katsue clan have noticed that scorpions in some of their clans breeding grounds have been attacked and or are missing. Due to this the clan has requested in the aid of the village and have requested to meet with a team of ninjas to further prep and plan with searching the breeding grounds.

Risuki sighs as she surveys the large breeding grounds that the Katsue clan uses for the secretive breeding methods of their prized scorpions, sometimes large and sometimes quite tiny, but all of them helpful for the clan in their own ways. If they were requesting the assistance of Sunagakure, and didn't even mind if the ninja were actually Katsue shinobi, then the problem must have been serious, indeed. Although she's busy surveying the wide expansive area, she's making sure to stay far outside of the actual grounds themselves, designated by a somewhat flimsy fence; apparently, it wasn't to keep the scorpions in, but to keep normal people out. The scorpions themselves were apparently territorial, but did not engage in any kind of spreading of that territory, so it wasn't entirely necessary to put anything more than this flimsy fence out to the edges of the zone.

The redhead runs her fingers through her hair as she continues to wait out in the hot sun. Unfortunately, the heat was bouncing off the sand, but this was supposedly the best time to go about any kind of investigative work that might need to be done after the meeting with the Katsue clan members; most of the scorpions were only active at dusk and at night, and would refuse to venture out, even for food, after the sun was up. For the moment, she was waiting on both the person taking this mission with her, as well as the Katsue clan members that would be informing them of the approved methods. This really was quite a drag. A breeze blows across the dunes, and Risuki quickly tugs the wolfdog pelt up to keep her eyes and her tan skin covered from the stinging sand as it races across the tops of the slopes, but when the wind settles again, she lets the cape-like pelt settle once more on her back. She was prepared, even if the meeting didn't require combat for the moment, wearing her Hung Gar rings already, though her knuckle dusters were put away in her weapon pouch for the moment.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

It was his first real mission so he was excited. Rushing along to the special breeding grounds of the Scorpion clan, which was special because usually with clans you didn't get to see their inner workings. There was one other reason that he was eager to get there though, and that was because he was taking this mission with someone that he was excited to see again. So in his usual shinobi gear he raced along until he could see the fence in the distance. A familiar shock of red hair, and wolf pelt on her back, caused his eyes to light up. Soon he came to a full stop as he got closer, and tried to catch his breath. Waving as he approached.

"Risuki! I'm not late am I? Did you already talk to the clan breeders?" He asked getting closer before his eyes were drawn from her, reluctantly, to the scorpions themselves that were 'captive' inside the fence. There were so many questions bubbling up inside his head right now. Why scorpions? How often did they get stung? Were they immune to the venom? Could he have one as a pet? Though he kept them all to himself for the moment, may the gods have mercy on the first Katsue to come across him.

Still he placed his gaze back on the red head with a bright smile on his lips. A well trained eye would see that his hands were slightly bruised, as were his shins. It would seem that he was trying to make good on his promise to her when they last saw each other. Though he was careful to not stare at her too long, and so he put his gaze back on the fence, and the grounds within it with a tilt of his head.

"Who would be dumb enough to kidnap scorpions?" The intrusive thought came out.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

Risuki turns to look at the boy as he arrives, and she notices with a bit of pride that his hands are fairly bruised from some apparent training. She wonders at getting him something to make the training less painful, but she knows that the broken bones will heal back stronger and tougher than before, and this was a necessary part of the training that one needed to do in order to not have their bones break when it was most important for them. She'd leave it alone for now, but she does answer his question about the clan breeders.

"Nah. I just got here real early, but I haven't seen no Katsue yet. They're a strange bunch, even compared to me."

She follows his eyes when she can see him looking past her and into the scorpion's enclosure, feeling pretty certain she can tell what he might be thinking about, and then he surprises her with a pretty wise question, especially coming from a teenager in regards to the mission. Asking who would want to kidnap the scorpions in the first place is a clever question, but she also waves away his question, because even if it was smart, it was the wrong question to ask at this point in the mission.

"We don't even know that they're kidnappin' 'em. Might just be settin' 'em loose or killin' 'em for personal gain or a vendetta against the clan or Sunagakure. Who knows? We can find out when we catch 'em. Speaking of which..."

There's a group of five people in thick black robes approaching them now, and she winces at the color, knowing that they must be baking inside the cloth. Then again, she can also see that the cloth is actually made of cotton, a very light material that allows the body to breathe in high temperatures, and it even has some kind of a layer above the cotton, made of who knows what, but it looks protective.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

He squints his eyes at her, and he frowns a bit when she says that they don't they're being kidnapped, scorpionnapped? He let that word mull over in his brain, he would workshop a bit more. She brought up several other prospects, and he tapped his cheek though before he could say another way his eyes drifted on over to the cloaked figures heading towards them both. The sun no longer really bothered him, it's why he wore such light clothing, and why he was so tan like so many in his family. Those people though had to be literally being cooked alive in that clothing though. Part of him wondered if that was just how they dressed, but at the same time he didn't feel it was proper to ask. Instead he whispered to Risuki next to him.

"They're not gonna die of heat talking to us in that are they?" The question was sincere, he felt it would look bad if one of these guys just dropped dead at their feet during questioning. It would certainly reflect poorly on the both of them he figured, but they probably wouldn't get in trouble would they?

That was alot of thinking, and he didn't necessarily want to put that much thought into it. What they had to do was figure out who was doing the scorpionnapping, and stop them. Or killing he supposed. So with a vibrant smile on his lips like the sun above them he waved to the five men.

"Hello! I'm Asahi, nice to meet you esteemed members of the Katsue clan." He said not being really good at formality but he was trying, and he bowed his head slightly to them. Leaving out his last name for one reason or another. Sometimes people got weird around him when he mentioned it, and he didn't want that. Risuki thankfully hadn't been like that, at least not that he noticed. "We're here to stop your scorpionnapping problem, or well to find out what's going on."

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

The redhead smirks a little when it seems like Asahi has the same questions as she does, but hasn't apparently noticed that their robes are apparently treated to withstand the desert's heat. She felt no need to tell him about it, either, since he didn't question it directly to anyone else. It wasn't entirely important to the mission, anyway. She manages to whisper back an answer as they're still approaching at least.

"I think they'll be fine. Used to it 'n all."

Risuki simply allows Asahi to approach them and give his own introduction, and since he'd made it somewhat normal to introduce himself with only his first name, she decided to do the same. After all, the Katsue and the Karamatta didn't necessarily get along well with one another, as the Katsue felt that the Karamatta clan had some interest in their largest breed of scorpion, though that wasn't really true. In fact, and Risuki wouldn't tell them this herself, the Karamatta clan had no interest in any of the Katsue scorpions. In a sense, Risuki had a similar, but ultimately different reason for keeping her last name somewhat hidden from these strangers, at least for the moment.

"Yo. Name's Risuki."

She introduces herself, but when she sees that they do not extend their hands in an offer of a handshake, she doesn't offer her hand, either. Instead, they gesture for them to follow after them, moving towards what looks to be a small sandstone shack, in the same style as most of the buildings in Sunagakure. It seemed that even with their robes, they preferred to have their conversations inside, and they do find that the place is furnished in the style of a guest house, with a table and small cushions, along with a very tall pitcher of water to drink from. This was clearly where they wanted to hold the meeting to discuss the problem.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

They had both introduced themselves, but their clients hadn't yet, and he frowned for a moment wondering if he had said something to offend them. Though he quickly pushed that notion aside when they motioned for them to follow them, and so he did so. It was a little shack, probably somewhere they brought all their guests. Well that was fine with him, so he followed them easily. Part of him wondered if it was a trap, and they were about to be ambushed, but that wasn't going to happen. Besides if it did, it would be really bad for these guys.

Going inside the shack he didn't sit down since the oversized scroll was still on his body, and taking it off, and putting it back on was a huge hassle. He would have to figure out a better method to bring his Iron Sand around on. Instead he leaned against the wall, and smiled at their clients pointing to the large scroll hoping that they would understand.

Though he didn't speak this time, figuring he had said enough, and instead was waiting for one of them to tell them about everything that had been going on. After all he was more than happy to help, but as Risuki said earlier they didn't really know anything at the moment. Asahi figured it had to be people who were jealous of the clans Scorpions, but who would be? They had to realize that the village would get involved eventually didn't they? Unable to keep quiet like he wanted to, he smiled at the one he assumed was the leader of the other side.

"Soooo....I know this might be a tad insensitive to ask, but do you guys have any enemies who would be bold enough to tick you off like this?" It felt like a reasonable question to ask in this circumstance, but may as well get it out of the way first he figured.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

If any of the Katsue felt that him not sitting down to accept their hospitality was in some way an insult, they chose not to show it, but Risuki herself took one of the cushions for herself, only taking a moment to make sure she didn't sit on Sota, her Nuime pelt, by pushing it out behind her as she takes a seat. Sitting in such a position, Asahi might actually get a good look at the bottom of her platform-heeled tabi and see the odd-looking paw pad design on the sole. She also takes a big drink of the water being offered, finding it surprisingly cold despite the weather outside.

The Katsue are finally asked pointedly after the mission by Asahi, while Risuki was apparently find with just relaxing for a while, and so the leader of this particular group pulls the top of his robe down to reveal his face, looking around in his mid thirties, with surprisingly light skin, but black hair, though his right eye is a very slightly different color. Maybe Asahi wouldn't notice such a slight difference, but Risuki's eyes caught it, pinning it as a fake glass eye, but not willing to point it out. The man is apparently also the speaker for the group of five, and gives a rueful smile when asked if they have any enemies who would want to cause them damage in this way.

"Oh, no, we don't really have many enemies. What we do know is that they come from the East, the side furthest from the village of Sunagakure. We assume it's some rival nomadic tribe, although we don't know why. All we know is that the fence is broken on that side, and we're always missing at least two scorpions. They seem to know when we're not keeping as close a watch as normal, and they've hit us just today, in fact. This is the reason why we were late and why it was decided that I come with so many of the family."

It seemed to be as Risuki said, that the Katsue weren't really aware of how or why they had their scorpions stolen or killed, only that they kept losing them. At least they had given them a direction that they usually came from.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

As much as he tried to not look her direction it was like his own Jiton betrayed him, the magnetism forced his eyes to gaze at her while she was turned from him, and he did catch a peek at that paw print pattern. Though he wouldn't question her about it in the slightest lest she get the wrong idea about why his eyes were on her. So instead he forced himself to listen to the explanation the other gave.

He listened, and tapped his cheek as they mentioned the broken fence, and a fellow nomadic tribe to the east. If they had suffered losses even just today then that was extremely problematic. It was no secret that the Katsue were allied with Sunagakure which set them apart from other wandering tribes, so whoever was doing this was also making the village a target, and that bothered him a bit. Some random nomadic tribe should have known better, but perhaps they were desperate? Or maybe they were just greedy? A frown formed on his lips as he mulled over the information they had just given him.

"Hmmm I see well that makes sense, at least it's not another village clan as far as we know....That would complicate things." The frown still lingered for a moment before he smiled at the leader of the five of them. "Well unless my companion objects, why don't we stick around here, and act as extra guards. With two more sets of eyes we can cover for the gaps in your own watch, and if someone tries something fishy we can catch them, and question them?" It was a straightforward plan much like his fighting style.

Not much room for guile of subtlety, just tackle the problem head on, and get the best results. Mentally he was nodding to himself there were probably better plans, but he figured they could catch the scorpionnappers by surprise this way.

Karamatta Risuki

[Karamatta Risuki]

The man with one glass eye smiles at the suggestion for the two Genin to act as additional guards, since they had been attacked that day, but he shakes his head, as well, and Risuki turns her head to look sidelong at her companion for this mission, not noticing that he had been looking at her earlier, and now speaking directly to him, instead of letting the Katsue clan member tell him why the additional guard duty wasn't really necessary.

"Whoever did this, they're not going to attack the same place again so soon. I'm sure this man has something else in mind..."

The man once again gets a rueful look on his face, rubbing the back of his head and letting out a little chuckle at the fact that he's just called "this man" at the moment, having apparently forgotten his own introduction.

"Ah, yes, where are my manners? Katsue Jingasa. I'm not really a very high ranking member of the clan, I'm just one of the many clan members involved in the breeding process. No, we don't really need more guards. We were really somewhat hoping that you would provide a more... permanent solution to this issue."

Risuki had turned to the man when he'd introduced himself, then looked back at Asahi again, knowing that he had a bit of cold feet whenever killing was involved, but also knowing that sometimes a fight was necessary, especially if whoever was taking or killing the scorpions wanted a fight.

"For now at least, you can lead us out to the broken fence, and we'll do some investigative work there, yes?"

At this, Risuki takes one last swallow of cool water, then refills it and hands it back to Asahi for him to drink as well. They'd be going back outside again soon, and she wanted to make sure he didn't have a heat stroke. She rises with Jingasa at last when he agrees to the idea of an investigation of the intrusion.

[Oonakayama Asahi]

Ah....

A permanent solution....

The inference there he didn't know how to take it, he knew that they'd probably have to fight, but he didn't think he'd have to kill anyone. Couldn't they just take them into custody? Did they have to just murder them? His frown returned, but Risuki was right they had to go investigate first, and once that was done they would come up with a better plan. After all taking on a group of poachers he didn't know if they could even do that? Would that be allowed? Tapping his cheek a little, that was a problem for future Asahi. As he was about to leave he noticed a glass being offered to him.

It was from Risuki, it was filled with water, which normally wouldn't be a problem however. The crystal clean quality of the glass allowed him to see the marks of her lips on it. Was this....An indirect kiss!? Wait what did this mean? His already dark cheeks got even darker, and he felt as if steam was coming out of ears. It was suddenly incredibly hot in this little shack, and all the processing power of his brain just shut off leaving him with mental error messages.

Slowly he raised the glass to his lips, and shutting his eyes he just unceremoniously gulped down the entire glass, and then he placed it back on the table with a sense of urgency he hadn't shown up to this point.

"Thanks for the water bye!!!" He half shouted embarrassed out of his mind before he jetted out of the door, and over to the fence before anyone noticed him acting weird. A small trail of dust was left in his wake as he put as much distance between himself, and the other six as fast as he possibly could.

Karamatta Risuki