Minding Her Own Business.

[Hishime]

‘Was he planning to kill me?’ Hishime asked herself as she saw his first reaction. Then, she just listened to him and nodded.

“Of course I can. But I suggest that we wont make this too obvious. If we sneak around like we’ve committed a crime, they will suspect us.” Hishime replied, knowing this from experience.

“I’ve set up my camp a few days ago, its not far from here. If you want, we can go there. If not, I know an empty house. No one has been living in it for quite some years. Its entirely up to you.”

The young girl still remembered all the stories about that old house, and didn’t really want to pay a visit, but she guessed that it would be a good place to hide. No one nearly ever approached that old building, some people even say its haunted. Hishime, personally, would prefer to hide somewhere else.

The camp she’d set up, wasn’t that big. Just a small tent, and she guessed two persons was the absolute maximum that would fit. She didn’t knew why, but she had brought a spare sleeping bag with her, and now, maybe, it would come to use. Also, some of her stuff was there that she might need. Such as other medical suplies and extra kunai and shuriken.

“Whatever you choose, sir, you must know that it is very important to listen to me and do what I say if we go there. Even though I am younger than you, and you don’t know me. If you trust me, we will arrive safely. If you do not trust me, you can just forget it.”

Her voice was cold and very serious as she spoke again. She knew that he probably didn’t trust her, and maybe would never fully trust her. But trust is very important for this, so-called, mission of his.

The kunoichi crossed her arms and stared into the man’s eyes while she was waiting for a reply. If he would lie, or if he was hiding anything, she would be able to see it. Of course, the young shinobi already knew that the man was hiding something.

She still did not fully know what this ‘Inuukubi’ was. At what the man had said earlier, she figured that the Inuukubi was some kind of organization, that she was 80% sure of. But she did not know what they where ‘fighting’ for. Hishime decided she would question about it later, there were more important things to do now.

[ken]

A camp was small and isolated, and a common sight in the desert with all the pilgrims and merchant groups that wandered the wastes. On the other hand, a building was good, hard cover, with plenty of nooks and crannies for hiding in or setting up traps to keep intruders on their toes. But between a camp or a derelict house? Both perfectly good for laying low in, but all that mattered was the location to the target. The nearer to the north of the city, the better.

'Whatever you choose, sir, you must know that it is very important to listen to me and do what I say if we go there,' the girl said critically. 'If you trust me, we will arrive safely. If you do not trust me, you can just forget it.'

Fair point, but she wasn't in any position to be demanding anything from him. She had elbowed into his affairs inexplicably in the first place, and in doing so had very nearly ended up in two very separate and very bloody parts. Izanagi didn't know her motives, but he was fairly certain none the less that she wasn't an enemy in the strictest sense - more a very annoying neutral party. Like it or not though, she did know the place better than Izanagi, and she was along for the ride now whether he or she liked it or not.

'I cannot trust you, you know that. Not just yet; not until you and me have had a little chat,' he said. 'But what I can do is listen to you and follow your lead. You can consider it my promise. As for the location...'

Izanagi folded his arms, his brow knotted in thought.

'Which of the two sites is closer to the north end of the city? The building I take it?'

[Hishime]

“Yes, sir, I know.” Hishime replied, “I will consider it your promise then.”

The young girl sighed and slowly nodded before speaking again, “Yes, I think the house is closest to the north.”

Again, she didn’t really want to go there, but she guessed that she didn’t really had an other choice. Because of everything she had heard of that old building, she wasn’t really too happy and exited to go there.

“Lets go.” She said and put on the dark green cloak. She walked past the man and climbed through the window, carefully not to cut herself at the broken glass. “Try to keep up.” She spoke one more time before bending through her knees and jumping towards the other building in front of this house. As she landed safely on her feet, she immediately took off at almost full speed in northern direction.

It has been a few years since she had come near that old, weird building, but she still remembered exactly where it was. Without looking back at the man, she was pretty sure he would keep up, she just ran over the roof tops. It wouldn’t take very long until they’d get there.

‘Authorities?’ she thought to herself, remembering the man talking about it. She carefully scanned the area, but she didn’t detect any, at least not at the moment. And if they would have to face some of them, she knew how to take care of them. Hishime had to face them many times before, and she really wasn’t afraid of them anymore.

“It’s not far from here.” Hishime said, almost in a whisper, and quickly glanced back at the man. Then, she looked forward again. She could already see the building in the distance. Like she had said, it was an very old building, that hadn’t been used for more than 10 years.

The wooden roof was partly rotten and the once white walls were now a dirty brownish color. Also, she was pretty sure that the inside of the house was worse.

Suddenly, the kunoichi came to a stop. She looked at the pale man, as if she was expecting him to say something. She secretly hoped that he would change his mind, but she was like 98% sure that wouldn’t happen.

[ken]

Izanagi followed in the girl's wake, jumping between alleys and over rooftops, through the shadows whenever possible. Both were deathly quiet. The girl was more professional than he had given her credit for. Eventually, they mounted a tall building and the desolate and sand-blasted house they were looking for came into view.

It was a pitiful sight - a lonely building surrounded by rows of old storage huts and green houses, most collapsed with age and abuse. It was likely a former food storage site for the nearby ninja training grounds, used to house fruit and vegetables grown in the city or imported from out of the country. The house in the centre of it all was likely where the site manager and his family stayed. The whole area had likely been abandoned after they decided to employ civilian farmers to grow, store and sell all the produce throughout the city. Economy was important, he guessed.

The main house was large and round, a vague cylinder that had likely once tapered to a point. Now, a good portion of the roof had caved in, filling the top floor with hard packed sand and rock, the main building material of all buildings in Sunagakure. The lower two floors should be safe enough to rest in. Izanagi was crouched to the left flank of the girl, playing around with his blade absentmindedly between two fingers. He looked at her to signal for her to move on, but she was away on another planet, staring wide-eyed at the darkened structure. He nudged her.

'Hey. Time to get moving. Let's go.'

[Hishime]

The young girl stopped breathing for a few seconds as she felt a sudden nudge. ‘Hey. Time to get moving. Let’s go.’ Hishime slowly nodded in reply.

“H-hai..” she mumbled, and couldn’t help to stutter. Was she afraid? No, that wasn’t possible. Or, was she?

Hishime couldn’t tell herself. She knew there was no turning back. ‘C’mon, get a grip on yourself girl.’ She thought angrily to herself. The girl nodded again before speaking.
“H-hai. Let’s go..”

She would have slapped herself for stuttering again, but there were much more important things to do now. The young girl didn’t spoke anymore and jumped down. She landed carefully on one knee and one foot. Then, she stood up again and stared at the building for a moment.

After a few seconds, she sighed and slowly approached the house. She kept her eyes focused on the wooden door, which was half open like usual. The glass in the windows were broken, and as she got closer and closer, the burns on some of the walls and the roof became more visible.

Hishime glanced at the man for a moment, wanting to see his reaction. Then, she looked forward again and slowly reached for the doorknob to open the door some more. The dark, wooden door creaked as it was opened all the way.

Inside, there was only darkness. The lights didn’t work anymore and there were no candles. The young girl slowly took a first, small step inside. The floor creaked dangerously under the weight of the young shinobi.

She didn’t knew what part of the floor would be able to hold both of them, so she was extra careful as she continued her steps inside. She looked around, only to see a few spider webs in the corners, and a lot of dust and sand on the floor. This all, gave the house a somewhat scary, spooky look.

Hishime surely didn’t really feel comfortable by entering this building. All the darkness and stuff, just kind of freaked her out. But, even though she felt uncomfortable, she managed to keep her cool.

[ken]

The girl twisted her head to look at Izanagi. She was anxious, and she was doing a piss poor job in hiding it. Her breathing was shallow, her body language ponderous, and her face an oil painting of barely contained dread. It was mildly amusing. Izanagi smiled back at her, completely unphased.

'No need to worry about me,' he whispered in the moonlight.

The girl turned back to the battered door and - very carefully - reached for the half-broken doorknob. She gripped it. And then pushed the door open very gently. It creaked in the time honoured fashion of a door trying its hardest to provide a moment of suspense.

Beyond the door was utter darkness, a vacuum of emptiness; standing at the threshold of the door, as they both were, was like mingling on the event horizon of a black hole. Epic simile aside, they couldn't see a bloody thing.

The girl took one very cautious step inside. The floor of the building responded by creaking irritatedly at her. She didn't move for quite a while. Izanagi sighed quietly and rested a hand on the girl's shoulder, stepping up beside her.

'Take it easy, I will find us some light,' he said reassuringly. A quick glance at the door frame yielded immediate results. He yanked a piece of wood from the frame, wrapped some surplus bandages he had on him around one end, and lit it on fire with a simple match he had for situations like these. A massive room stretched before them in the orange glow of the torch, apparently taking up all of the ground floor of the building. Decaying and sand covered furniture was scattered everywhere about the floor: couches, chairs, tables, cabinets, cupboards - most were large, broken and fairly simple looking, or at least they looked that way under the years of dust and sand. A semi-collapsed staircase began at the east wall of the room and spiraled up, ending at the top of the north wall. And to the west of the massive room was a fireplace built into the wall, with a chimney stack that stretched up through the ceiling. There was signs of what looked liked fire damage along parts of the wall and furniture.

Izanagi approached one of the intact couches near the fireplace, scattered the dust and sand from it with his free hand and took a seat carefully. Nothing bit or stung him, that was a good sign. He leaned forward and propped his torch against a low and heavily damaged table.

'Seems nice enough in here,' he said thoughtfully. 'Better than what I am used to anyway.' He glanced back at the girl, still lingering near the open door. 'You can have a seat, miss. I'm fairly certain the damaged furniture will not attack you.'

He turned back to his torch and settled into the couch. Besides - he had questions that needed answering.

[Hishime]

The girl immediately looked back at the man as she felt a sudden touch on her shoulder. ‘Take it easy, I will find us some light.’ The man said. Hishime nodded in reply but still stayed in place. She turned her body and kept her eyes on him. She quickly took a step backwards as he yanked a piece of wood from the door. Again, the floor creaked dangerously. The somewhat scary creaking sound would sent shivers down her spine, making her feel even more uncomfortable.

Soon, the darkness vanished in the orange glow of the simple torch. The young girl eyed the large room for a moment. There were a lot of broken and very old objects spread all over the room, all covered by sand and dust, just like the floor.

Hishime turned her attention back to the man as he approached one of the couches and sat down. 'You can have a seat, miss. I'm fairly certain the damaged furniture will not attack you.' The man said.

The 15 year old sighed in reply, “I know.” She said.

In a slow pace, the young shinobi approached the man, still very carefully where she would set her feet. As she walked, the floor creaked again. This caused her to walk a little faster.

As she reached the man and the couch, she sighed one more time. She didn’t look at the man this time, knowing her behavior was already showing weakness, and her eyes would only give away more emotions.

She sat down next the man, and leaned forward on the couch. She placed her elbows on her almost bare knees and rested her forehead in her hands.

“You said you wanted to talk, right?” The girl asked, her eyes focused on the floor. “Go ahead and ask whatever you want. I’ll do my best to answer your questions correctly.”

[ken]

[OOC: Kept you waiting, huh? ]

Izanagi pulled his tired legs up onto the dilapidated couch and crossed his legs under him.

'Okay,' he said quietly, the dim glow of the torch casting an unsettling light onto his ghostly complexion. 'I will not waste breath asking how you found me - that does not matter now. What I do need to know is... well, why? You did nothing but look on even after I harmed and then killed a pleading and defenseless old man. And most baffling of all, here you are now, assisting my escape and agreeing to help me find a man you likely know nothing about and who likely has no official criminal record. To put it simply, you are helping me track down an apparently innocent man.'

He paused for a long while, his mouth hung open slightly as if about to say something. He stared intently at the flickering flame with a furrowed brow, thinking not about what to ask, but rather how to ask it. He sighed and ran a grubby hand through his dusty hair, the tattered bandages covering much of his palm had come loose and hung lazily from his pale skin. He appeared to give in.

'Right. I do not know, okay? You could be a spy, a hunter-nin who stumbles upon me and decides to go with the flow because you have discovered I am after the same man you are. Or, you could be something else entirely, a crazy shinobi like all the others I have been unfortunate enough to encounter.' He leaned in and scrutinized the young shinobi with the intensity of an obsessive physician or particularly confused and vaguely annoyed Inuukubi agent (most accurately the latter) and then said, devoid of anything resembling a non-threatening attitude, 'What are you up to?'

[Hishime]

(OOC: Shame on you, Ken! =P)

“What am I up to?” Hishime repeated quietly and then sighed again.

“Ok, first of all, I’m not a spy. And I’m not a hunter-nin either.” She slowly lifted her head and stared into the flames of the torch. “But, I guess you could say I’m a crazy shinobi.”

“The short version; I’m a teen with a f*cking messed up past and I’m searching for who and what I really am...” She continued.

Slowly, she lifted her upper body and sat straight up again. Her eyes were still focused on the fire as she continued talking. “I don’t know why I followed you, and why I’m helping you. And I know that you won’t trust me, but let me tell you a little bit more about myself. My name’s Hishime. I’m 15. I was born here, so I know this village pretty well. I ran away to Konohagakure, and became a shinobi there. And now I’m traveling and looking for a place where I belong. That’s pretty much it.”

Hishime took a quick glance at the man and gave a weak, small smile. “And, I guess.. I didn't want to be alone anymore..”

[ken]

[OOC: Miss me? ]

Izanagi nodded quietly to himself and sat with his head resting in his hands, finding an interesting section of the wall to stare at rather than return fire with his own gaze. It wasn't a situation he found himself in often. Maybe he was just exhausted, or maybe he really did find something odd about this girl. Trying to look into her eyes, for instance, was like trying to talk a lemming out of jumping from a cliff - nigh impossible. The fact that she just admitted to being slightly off the wall didn't help matters any, but then every teenager and their dog was 'fucked up' nowadays, so it didn't shock him in the slightest. What did surprise him was her little story. She wasn't of the Sand like he had naturally assumed, or at least not any more, but of the Leaf, miles upon miles away. Had she trekked all that way just to find somewhere she 'belonged'? Or more interestingly, was it possible that she was a missing-nin, hunted by the country she had escaped to and now chased back to her original home? If what she was saying was the truth, and it most certainly seemed that way, it raised a few interesting points. But he would dwell on those later.

Izanagi rubbed his eyes lazily and got up steadily from the couch, removing the black cloak he had pillaged and slinging it onto a chair nearby, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand. He wandered over to the flickering torch, his arms hugged tightly to his body and his back to the girl. He wasn't entirely sure what to say; another thing that never happened to him. It had to be the lack of sleep, had to be.

The girl, Hishime, shifted gently in her seat.

'And I guess,' she said quietly. Izanagi angled his head toward her. She smiled up at him for the briefest of moments. The flame of the torch crackled expectantly. 'I didn't want to be alone anymore.'

Izanagi didn't say or do anything for a whole three seconds - just stared as if he was waiting for her to explode. His eyeline drifted chest-ward. He blinked. And then he snapped his gaze back to the fire. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

'We should get our heads down for a few hours,' he said rather loudly, and marched over to the chair with his cloak draped over it. He grabbed the cloak and sat down heavily, wrapping the garment around him and pulling his legs up, his head resting on the chair's backing. He was facing away from the girl, annoyed with himself.

No way was she fifteen...

[Hishime]

‘We should get our heads down for a few hours.’ The man said. Hishime nodded slowly while her smile disappeared. She lifted her feet and rested them on the old, dusty couch. She laid down on her back and placed her hands behind her head.

‘It seems like he doesn’t even want to be with me here, right now.’ She thought to herself. ‘Oh well, nothing I can do about it.’

Hishime sighed deeply and closed her eyes. ‘New day, new chances.’ She thought, while slowly drifting off in a light sleep.

“You b*tch!” A tall, dark haired man yelled at a little girl. Another loud smack was heard. The little girl’s cheek now redder than ever. More tears started to come up. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?! You always let me do the work! Always!!”
“But, dad!” The little girl tried to scream over her father’s loud yells. “No buts!!” The man’s hand formed into a fist. “No, daddy! Please, do--” She was cut off by an incredible pain, and a loud crack. She felt herself flying backwards, and then hit the hard wooden wall. She groaned loudly and her breathing was very heavily.
“Next time, think before you act! Do what I say! You f*cking little sl*t!!” The man slowly approached the girl again, now a kunai in his big, sweaty hand. The girl watched her father in terror. “Daddy.. please don’t..” she begged one last time, new, warm tears trailing down her red cheeks. “Please..”

Hishime’s eyes shot open. Her face all covered with sweat, and her breathing heavily. ‘Just another nightmare..’ she thought to herself and took a deep breath to calm down a little.

“Just a nightmare..” she muttered quietly to herself through her panting. She slowly closed her eyes again and took another deep breath. ‘That wasn’t real..’ she kept telling herself over and over again. She opened her eyes again. ‘Just a dream..’

Hishime sat up shakily, and pulled her cold and pale legs towards her, hugging them gently. It was still dark outside. Only the torch was there to light the large and old house they were in. The young girl sighed lightly and bit her lower lip. A small, single tear trailed down her pale cheek. She let it roll, and just stared in front of her. It was almost like all the shadows were dancing in the orange glow of the torch.

[ken]

[OOC: Time jump!]

Izanagi's eye cracked open. Sunlight shone brightly from a broken window at the far end of the room, illuminating the fire damage that had blackened the wall almost utterly. He sat up groggily, spitting the sand from his mouth and rubbing his eyes irritably. The torch in the middle of the room had all but died out, leaving behind a glowing stump of wood surround by its ashen remains. The girl slept soundly on the couch to his left, snoring gently.

'Good morning,' he said to himself sarcastically.

He forced himself out of the seat, stretching painfully and flexing his joints. His night on the chair curled into a ball hadn't been good to him. But, sleep was sleep. The area of the living room that they had slept in was suitably in the shade, with no direct sunlight; just the way the albinistic Izanagi liked - and needed - it. He grabbed his cloak and wandered unsteadily over to the uncovered window, throwing his cloak over it and hanging it from a dilapidated curtain rail. It would block the sunlight from pointing further into the room as it crawled across the sky. Satisfied, he returned to the centre of the battered room and stood over the girl.

Izanagi pulled the kind of face that a human only does once every century.

The overcoat that she had used to cover herself and been thrown to the side of her through all her tossing and turning during the night. Unfortunately, in doing so she had also exposed herself more than a little. It rendered shaking her awake possible, but not decent. He was fairly sure people went to jail for that sort of thing.

He looked around a bit and found a small stone near the ashes of the fire. He picked it up and, very carefully and gently, threw it at the girl from across the room. Now, Izanagi was never blessed with good luck and a penchant for mild blasphemy, but when the stone flew off course inexplicably and hit her head, he cursed whatever god it was that governed such things.

The girl stirred from her slumber nevertheless. He approached her quietly.

'Hishime... Hishime-san - It's morning. Time to get up.'

[Hishime]

“Hello, sweetheart. Have you slept well?” A young girl, around the age of 11, slowly cracked an eye open. Her skin was almost as white as snow and her hair almost as black as coal. Her wet, ocean-green eyes reflecting the yellow-orange glow of a single candle, that was being held by an big, tall man.

“Hishime.” The tall man spoke with an unusual scary voice. The little girl groaned lightly as she tried to sit up. Her small eyes got wide with fear. The little clothing that she had been wearing was almost completely torn off her small body. Her shirt, that was once pure white colored, was now covered with dirt, and partly ripped. Her jeans, were nowhere in sight. A still warm, thick liquid slowly spread over the cold, hard floor, coming from between her legs. A cold tear tickled down the young girls cheek.

“O..Otoo-san..” The little girl spoke shakily. “Doushite?”

“Don’t speak, Hishime. It’s morning. Time to get up.”

‘Hishime... Hishime-san. It’s morning. Time to get up.’

The girl’s eyes immediately shot wide open after hearing a male voice, that she didn’t recognize, at least not yet. She sat up as fast as she could, like she was just stung by a bee. Her green eyes looked all over the room, everything being a big, brownish blur. She was partly blinded by the sunlight, and tiredness. She crawled back in the couch as far as she could and stared at a large, almost white colored blur, in the middle of all the brown.

“Otoo-san..?” Hishime muttered quietly to herself. She closed her eyes tightly, not remembering where she was and what she was doing here at the moment. Then, suddenly she remembered everything; she had come here, in this large, old house, with a tall and very pale looking man. She’d promised to help him, and they were hiding here in this house, also to get some rest.

As she slowly gained her memories and consciousness, she slowly opened her eyes again. She eyed the pale man for a moment, then gave a weak, and small smile.

“Sir, you scared the hell out of me..” Hishime said, and sighed deeply.

The young kunoichi relaxed a bit, and shifted in her seat to sit more comfortable. Her eyes widened a little at the sight of her clothing. Her fishnet shirt was half the way up her stomach, revealing quite a few of her many scars. Her black skirt was all the way up to her hips. ‘Oh.. my.. god..’ She thought, realizing she was now really almost naked, her face turned almost completely red.

Quickly, she stood up from the couch, and pulled her skirt down as fast as she could. Then, as last, she carefully pulled her shirt down. As usual, it covered up her scars a little bit, just like it was supposed to be.

She turned her head to the side, and looked at the man again. Unluckily, her eyes were still a little bit red from her crying in the night. “Gomen-nasai..” She said and bowed her head. “It was an accident. I couldn’t help it.”

[ken]

'Forget about it,' he said, waving his hand dismissively. 'Besides, those clothes will fair you better once it hits midday. I may be out of my depth here, but I do not need to be on the ball to know how hot it gets.'

He pulled a water canteen from the large pouch behind his hips and tossed it onto the ragged pillow beside Hishime, then turned and moved to the east side of the room.

'There is very little left, I will have to get some more,' he called back at her distractedly. He was eyeing pieces of furniture now; most of them were broken. 'But... But, yes, you can have the rest if you need it. Ah, this will do.'

He pulled some fallen timbre and stone from a caved-in ceiling off of a low table, and then cleared the pulverized remains of a vase from the surface. The table was cracked, chipped and a general mess, but it was intact, and he couldn't ask for anything more in this ghost of a building. He dragged the table over to the girl and sat it parallel to the couch. Dusting his hands off, he fished inside his now grubby tunic and produced a crumpled and stained slip of paper. He unfolded the sheet and lay it flat on the table - it was a map of Sunagakure, the bottom corner had been torn off. While it did indeed show all the roads and paths and main buildings of the Sand in more or less the right position, it was clear that this 'map' had not been produced by any skilled cartographer; most likely traced in a hurry from an existing professional work. It was adequate, however, and that was all Izanagi had ever asked for.

'Okay,' he said, taking a seat beside the girl and smoothing the map out. 'The late Satori-san said that we needed to find one Nakamura Kei before we can find his son; and he said he lived in the north district of the city. You are my guide for this city, so' - he pulled a small pen from an inside pocket - 'I need you to help me find the nearest bath house.'

There was a moment of dead silence. It was as if the atmosphere had stopped working in order to ponder on what the pale man had just said.

'Seriously,' Izanagi said. And he wasn't kidding. He really was very damn serious. 'My clothes are filthy, I am filthy, and I have sand in places I really should not have sand.' He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 'Look, we have until midnight tonight to find this Nakamura, so in the meantime what we need to do is get some food in us, stock up on water and prepare ourselves for later. But the first thing I have to do is get a damn wash.'

He held out the pen in one resolute hand.

'Please?'

[Hishime]

Hishime carefully took the pen from the man’s hand. She leaned forward a bit to take a better look at the map. The map wasn’t very detailed, but it was one of the better ones she’d seen. Gently, she trailed her fingers over the paper, while searching for the bathhouses with her eyes.

“I think the nearest bathhouse is about ten minutes of walking.” Hishime said.

Carefully, she drew a little circle around a medium sized building. It was about one inch away from the building they were in right now.

“Sir, listen carefully,” She said, “I will only say this once. This is where we are right now.” She pointed to a large building near the edge of the village. “First, you follow this street.” Her finger followed a thin, red-colored line. “Then, you take the third right. Then, the second left, and you continue to follow this street for about five minutes. Then, you take the fourth left,” Hishime pointed to the building inside the circle. “And this is the bathhouse.”

Hishime gently laid the pen next to the map on the old and dusty table, and stood up from the couch. “Ok, you go and take your bath. I will get us some food. Let’s meet here in an hour.”

Without waiting for a reply, she already made her way towards the half broken door. “Oh, and I don’t need the water, you can take it. Thanks anyway.” She said before taking a first step outside. The sunlight gently warmed up her cold, pale skin. It wasn’t that warm outside, at least not yet. There was a soft, warm wind blowing, and the sky was bright blue. There were no clouds in sight.

The kunoichi lazily walked through the streets. She was planning to go to the market, that was only held twice a week. For this time of the day, there were already quite a lot of people outside, probably also going to the market; this was going to be a little too easy.

Half an hour later, the young girl was already on her way back to the ‘haunted’ house. In her arms, carrying a medium sized bread. The heath was getting worse than it had been that morning. She slowly approached the house, and peaked inside before entering; noone inside. She carefully entered, the floor creaking dangerously again under the kunoichi’s weight.

Hishime pulled off her cloak and threw it on the old couch in the middle of the room. She slowly walked towards the couch, and sat down gently. ‘Now, it’s only waiting for Mr. ‘Nameless’ to return from his bath.’ She thought to herself, placing the bread next to her on the partly ripped fabric of the couch. She sighed to herself; nothing much to do right now but just waiting.